From: "=?iso-2022-jp?B?GyRCJF8kPyRLGyhC?=" <mitani3@beige.ocn.ne.jp>
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 1999 20:12:59 +0900
Subject: Guardians Chapter 1 Disclaimers
Source: direct

The story plot is now pretty old, but it's far better than the original one
you got right now. The Disclaimers will follow this main text, so please
don't recycle my old one.

The chapter 2 and 3 will be following shortly, but I'm not sure if the 4th
chapter will make it by the time of your next update due-date.

I always appreciate the tremendous amount and quality of work you have been
doing for all of us XF fan-fic writers.

I really hope that you would keep this site open, because this site is
always on my list of favorite web sites.

Sincerely thank you,
Junko Mitani



Exact Location And Date Unknown
Downtown Business District
Los Angels, California
9:30 PM Pacific Time

The sun set long ago. The skeleton of what would soon be a skyscraper
occupied the deserted construction site. Moonlight encased the building,
traced each metal frame to create the ghostly, yet mysterious shifts of
light and shadow. A beam of flashlight cut through the darkness and
stopped as it found the stairs leading to the gondola. A man's shadow
blocked the moonlight that illuminated the gondola's operator box, and
soon the gondola awoke. 
It was a very unusual, if not insane, action to take for anyone to be
out in the deserted and incomplete building construction site at night
all by himself; let alone climbing one all the way up to the top. There
had been a very strong and unexpected thunderstorm that had been
attacking the city until half an hour ago. It started just after six,
when everyone had gone home; save one. 

The day hadn't gone by the way that he'd wished it would. His project
team had yet another argument that almost ended in violence, then one of
their construction workers with a severe drinking problem had screwed up
and fell off a ladder. Then this storm graced the city with its
appearance, and this was just the perfect ending for a perfectly rotten
day. 
As practically always, the man had stayed late at the site's temporary
office, mostly reviewing tomorrow's schedule sheets that he found lying
on top of one of his associates' desks. Fate dealt its Joker card when
the rain started, because he decided to wait out the storm after
flipping a coin. He'd been watching the sky with fascination as the
lightning struck the city; his eyes tracing each shape until it struck
the skyscraper that he was building. 
Thinking of the mess being created on his building by the brutal storm,
he'd cursed and waited some more for the storm to die down before
risking his life by going out in the middle of the storm just to check
things out. 
Just when the storm reached its peak, the building was struck by a
particularly bright lightning. The man closed his eyes against the
blinding beam, but the light grew even brighter and he resorted to
shielding his eyes with his hands. The accompanying sound of a thunder
followed like a thousand bass drums exploding in front of him. Although
it only lasted for several seconds, he detected the loud noise vaguely
forming a series of rhythmical waves; rising and falling with each
pulse. Afraid that something might have loosened if not collapsed, the
man kept waiting for the storm to clear, so he could go check it out.
The tremendous noise and the bright light died simultaneously. Another
set of lightning and thunder soon followed, but they were far away.
	"About damn time." The man mumbled as he grabbed his Mega flashlight
and a helmet. He stepped outside, looking up at the building for a
cursory observation. It had sustained as much damage as he first
expected. Plastic cover sheets and a few tools were still left exposed,
scattering everywhere. They made him trip over several times, nearly
sending him over the edge to fall off.
	He remembered a Terry Pratchet novel about a God reincarnated as a
tortoise. The tortoise was mumbling something about tortoises plunging
to death after being dropped by hawks; because hawks decided that
tortoises were too much of a trouble to eat, but they didn't think about
that until they captured those poor tortoises and were airborne. He
didn't want to be the tortoise. 
As he kept on checking each floor for any damage that was in need of an
immediate repair, he thought he heard something move. Deciding that he
was hallucinating, he climbed back onto the gondola and pressed the "UP"
button at the side of the switch box. Two more floors to go, and he'd be
done. There were about twelve more floors to be added later, but the
construction process itself started only a few weeks ago. It was a
miracle they've come this far without stepping on anyone's toes or
strangling anyone. The rain summoned the dull smell of dirt and metal.
The man inhaled them as if to censor any dangerous spot that he might
step in. 
Placing a box of iron spikes back into its wooden box, he walked over to
a pile of wooden panel that lay exposed and replaced the plastic covers
that had been blown a short distance away. 'What can I say', he thought,
'I love my job'. His passion for architecture had driven him up to the
top of the ladder, so to speak. He was very proud of his
accomplishments, but his private life had suffered in return. More than
he ever imagined possible. 
When the gondola reached the top of the structure, he climbed out while
being careful not to slip on the water. The top floor fared the worst,
with the water puddles created on every available spot. He looked up to
the rapidly clearing sky, smiling as he spotted stars peeking through
the clouds. He walked along the protective metal railing, where he saw
the edges of each frame extended several yards into the air.
He inhaled the fresh night air, quietly thinking back to the old days
when nothing but the act of designing buildings mattered to him while
working. Lately, he barely had enough time to sleep. He belated himself
for looking at his watch out of a habit, and hated himself even more as
he read the time. He carefully took the final turn to return to the
gondola, and felt as if his blood was trying to drain through the soles
of his shoes.
	A person was standing; as rigid as the metal pole its body rested on.
Panicking beyond comprehension, the man threw away his flashlight and
dashed for the jumper. Approaching close enough to see the person's
face, terror smothered the rest of him. It was a child. A child had
somehow ended up on the top of this fragile building. Not only that,
this child somehow climbed out of the security railing and chose to test
just how long it would take to lose balance; to end up smashed like a
water melon on the asphalt below. 
He reached the railing and climbed out without a word. Just then, the
sky cleared even faster and the moonlight grew bright enough to give him
the side view of the child's small frame. The child's long braided hair
and the general figure told him that it was probably a girl. Her back
faced him, seemingly oblivious to his approach from behind her. With the
rapid flow of adrenaline pumping into his system and his panic urging
him on, he took several deep breaths to psych-up. 
Afraid if she might lose her balance from shock, he approached her as
slowly as his desperation allowed. His panic drove him to become
oblivious to the distance from the ground below, as well as to the water
dripping from everywhere. He even ordered himself to ignore the risk
factors as he first sat down on the metal. Straddling the pole for more
balance, he inched his way behind the girl until he zeroed in on her
close enough to grab her. He moved so quickly, she didn't have time to
protest. Instead, she merely released a gasp before ending up in the
waiting arms of her rescuer. 
They didn't move for a long time. The man was terrified, and the girl
was simply frozen on the spot. As he finally decided to move with the
girl still held tightly in his arms, he released a few deep breaths to
calm himself down. He placed his right arm with his palm flat on the
metal surface to push himself backwards. His left arm still held the
girl securely as he did this. He had to turn around at some point, but
he dared not until he had the security of the metal railing touching his
back. 
He kept inching his way back while trying his best not to look down. His
mind had returned to reality at the most inopportune moment and set off
all the previously ignored warning bells. He grabbed and turned the
girl's fragile body around to finally face her. A pair of deep hazel
eyes met a pair of sparkling green eyes within inches of each other.
Time froze as they regarded each other in silence, feeling each other's
burning gaze. The spell was broken when the man finally spoke with a
trembling voice.
	"All right, listen. I'm going to stand up. You have to hold on to me
very, very tightly." 
	He didn't wait for her reply before gripping the metal railing with his
right hand. He used his left hand to secure the girl. He carefully
pulled up his left leg, and moved his hips a few inches to the right to
make just enough room for his left foot to stand. Gritting his teeth, he
tightened the grip of his right hand and pushed himself up as fast as
possible without losing balance. 
His right foot caught up with his left about half way up, his right arm
now burning with pain and threatening to come out of its socket. He
finally wrapped his elbow around the metal to alleviate the pain. He
then slid upward until the railing ended. Quickly closing the distance
between his feet, he took another deep breath. Just when he turned
around slowly to let the girl off his left arm, he felt his right foot
slip. Panic returning instantly, he literally threw the girl's body over
and inside the metal railing. 
Just as her body landed flat onto the concrete floor, his left arm hit
the metal railing as it slipped past him. His right arm tore away from
the railing as well, now joining his left hand that gripped the edge of
the metal pole below. He screamed with the attack of sharp pains as it
finally registered in his mind. 'I'm not going to make it', he thought.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself staring directly into the
girl's eyes. He froze on the spot.
	Her eyes held a haunting look he knew all too well. The sadness, loss,
and an infinite emptiness that were displayed in them were too familiar
for his comfort. As his eyes locked with hers, he thought he saw the
girl's mouth move. No sound came out of it, but he knew she wasn't
silent. She was trying to tell him something. 'What? Did she want to say
a prayer before I fell off and get splattered on the ground?' Feeling
his strength ebb, he closed his eyes and only thought of one person. 
	"Alex...?" His lips whispered the name before he could stop it. 'Will I
be finally joining you?' After all, the act of climbing out of the
railing to play the role of a hero could be considered a suicide
attempt. 
	"Get up." His mind caught the words and his eyes snapped open. There
was only the girl, silently looking down at him through the railing.
Then he heard it again. "Get up." ...It was the same voice, and the girl
still wasn't speaking. Narrowing his eyes, he stared carefully at her.
"Get up." Again, he heard it. 'Alex?' He dismissed the idea. She was
long gone. 
	Suddenly, he felt his left hand shifting his weight upward and realized
what his body was trying to do. His mind joined his body without
protest. He gritted his teeth again as his right arm buckled slightly
with pain. He swung his legs for assistance, then summoned up all his
remaining strengths onto his arms, finally succeeding in hoisting his
legs up around the metal pole. His hands came up to grab the metal
railing once he straddled the pole. With his eyes still on the girl, he
inched forward close enough to grab onto the security railing before
finally pushing himself to a standing position. 
As he spilled onto the concrete floor beyond the railing, he felt his
head take a generous bounce and scrape against the concrete floor five
feet below. The moment a blinding shock of white-hot pain and an intense
dizziness attacked him, he gave himself the permission to black out. He
laid still on the spot, feeling the cool surface of the wet concrete and
the girl's haunting eyes looking back at his as he closed his eyes. 
	He had no idea for just how long he'd been 'out of it', but when he
opened his eyes, the moon was still up. His mind was at a pause, feeling
only the cool night breeze gently caressing his cheeks. He blinked
slowly a few times, taking in the strange comfort of his surroundings. 
Then, he made a critical mistake of moving his right arm. Immediately, a
jolt of pain shocked him back into reality. Something moaned and moved
next to him, over his left arm. He sat up, and nearly jumped from yet
another shot of pain that ravaged his stiff back. By now, his head was a
pulsing mass of pain, and he yelped as it blossomed inside his skull.
Then again, he heard the sound from his left; a little louder and longer
this time. He painfully turned his head to identify the source of
disturbance. When spotted the girl looking at him wearily from a few
feet away,  he remembered everything. His jaw dropped in response to the
terror he recalled. Resting his hands on his bent knees, he leaned
forward.
	"You...?" He couldn't think of anything else to say to the girl.' What
am I supposed to say?' It was tough to keep a cool head while it was
filled with a cocktail of emotions. He felt turmoil of anger, sadness,
relief, frustration, and hurt; all handed out to him nicely in a shaker.
The girl silently stared at him. After several failed attempts to speak,
he finally sighed and pushed himself up to his feet. He unintentionally
roughly grabbed the girl's arm and dragged her toward the gondola. He
was going to kill her parents for letting such a little girl wander
around alone late at night, only to end up in a place as dangerous as a
building construction site. 	A slight moan that escaped the girl's mouth
stopped him. Turning back, he knelt down to see where she was hurt, and
found the girl's arm badly bruised. He closed his eyes and damned
himself for hurting such a small, helpless child. 'Okay, calm down.' The
man ordered himself. He sighed and looked into her eyes, wrapping his
hands around her waist. He needed to let it out.
	"I'm sorry for grabbing you like that. I'm sorry for throwing you over
the railing, and then onto the concrete. I understand that you're in
pain. But let's get something clear. Don't!! Under any circumstances!
Ever do anything like that again!! You scared the hell out of me! What
if I couldn't throw you in?! What if I let you fall?! Do you have any
idea how high off the ground we are?! This is the floor eighty. There'll
be fifteen more. Four floors up will be high enough to kill us both!
What am I supposed to say to your parents if you didn't make it and I
have to face them by myself?! How am I supposed to live with myself for
the rest of my life!? I'd rather die out here than doing that!!" 
	Having to let his words come out in a rush, he finally stopped, closed
his eyes, and let his hands drop to his knees. He was very surprised
that the girl hadn't responded. He waited for his breaths to stabilize,
with his eyes kept closed the whole time. He was alive. They were alive.
They needed to return to the ground. He processed the information slowly
inside his head until they were etched in his mind. Slowly, he opened
his eyes. The same pair of green eyes stared at him. He sighed and stood
back onto his feet in search of his abandoned flashlight. He found it in
no time and wrapped the black string around his right wrist to let it
dangle in the air. 
	He could hold absolutely nothing on his right hand or his right
shoulder. The entire right side of his torso felt like a gigantic slob
of pain, and he knew instantly that the shoulder was dislocated. He'd
done it many times while playing basketball, and he knew just as well
how to pop it back into place. He glanced over to the girl and turned
away from her. He hoped he managed to keep his scream to a minimum as he
heard the bone click. Not wanting to let her go, even though he trusted
her to keep herself safe, he picked up her small body again and held her
against his left shoulder and chest. She looked no more than seven or
eight. Too small for a nine-year-old, and too big for a six-year-old. 
Upon safely touching the ground, he locked up the temporary office and
made it to his car, all the while holding the girl in his left arm.
After buckling her into the passenger seat, he climbed inside his white
BMW driver's seat and shut the door. That was when he realized it would
hurt to drive, and that he would have to use his left hand for gear
shift. He didn't want to call a cab, because he didn't want to wait for
it. He also didn't want to call an ambulance, because if he did, the
police would be milling around the construction site until well into
tomorrow's lunch hour. He mentally calculated the distance to the
nearest hospital, and decided that a mile was close enough. 
	"I can't guarantee my driving tonight will be a textbook safety-drive.
But the hospital's just ten minutes away. Just be patient with me." He
said as he turned on the ignition, grimacing at the movement of his
injured arm following the gear. After making the trip without leaving
any smoldering cars behind them, he checked into the Emergency Room,
carrying the girl in his left arm as he'd done before. 
	Police was called immediately as he told his story to the stunned
doctors. He insisted on staying by the girl, afraid of leaving her
alone, even though they were in a confinement of a hospital. They were
led to the Radiology department for X-rays at the same time, and the
technicians let him inside the girl's X-ray room when his were done. His
focus was on getting her to safety; so much so, that he didn't remember
that they are yet to introduce each other until he began filling out
their admission forms and insurance information. He hated people
referring to all identity-unknown females as 'Jane Doe'. He never
understood why it had to be that way instead of naming them something a
little more authentic; like 'I'm Mystery', or even 'What's My Name?'
would do the job. 
	The girl obviously had to be thoroughly filmed, thus she was taking
long. He focused his eyes again on the tiny body lying on the bed. And
saw the unmistakable terror in her eyes and her rigid body. Contrary to
his previous emotional turmoil, he couldn't help giving her a reassuring
smile from a corner of the room. 
	When they were led back inside the examination room, two police
officers were waiting for him to take his statement. He climbed off his
bed and stood beside the stretched form of the little girl. He had no
clue as to why he felt the need to do as such, and he didn't pursue the
matter. He told the story carefully from the beginning, ending with how
they came to the hospital. The doctors called their in-house
psychological counselor for consultation. The police took down his name,
social security number, addresses for both his home and office. 
He watched as the girl's assigned pediatrician talked to the officers,
then talked to the psych counselor who failed to bring the girl to utter
a word and have given up trying. He had to tell the officers that they
were welcome if they wanted to check out the construction site, but that
the rain would wipe off much of the evidences. Officers agreed, and soon
gone off to check out the missing persons reports. The psych counselor
recommended the hospital to keep the girl for a few days under
observation. Remembering that they hadn't even learned each other's
names yet, he sat down on the stool in front of her bed and extended his
hand for her to shake.
	"We skipped introductions, didn't we? I'm Jake. Jake Kathler. Nice to
meet you."
	The girl was still silent, but she looked down at Jake's outstretched
hand and shook it briefly. A genuine smile broke over his face, and he
thought he heard her breathe easier. The nurse moved her into her own
room and Jake followed inside. They sedated the girl fairly heavily
sedated due to her irrational behavior earlier. Still afraid of leaving
her, he settled down onto the comfortable chair set next to the bed. He
was being careful not to hurt his dislocated shoulder as he surrendered
himself to his own chemically induced sleep. In the following morning, a
volunteer carried in a cart with their breakfast on it. Jake passed on
the offer and sending his meal back untouched, so the volunteer could
give it to the next person. 
The girl had slept through the breakfast, but she shocked the entire
hospital staff and Jake when she woke up screaming at the top of her
lungs. She kept looking around her and at herself, seemingly getting no
idea about where she was, or how she got there.
	"It's okay! It's all right! It's me, Jake." He cupped her face in his
palms and made the girl look into his eyes. She shut up at once, and
dove into his arms without a pause. Having anticipated none of this,
Jake yelped as her tiny arm hit his injured shoulder. He gritted his
teeth and forced another yelp back down his throat. He released his
breath to calm down, sliding his left-hand up and down the girl's tiny
back. 
"It's okay. You're okay. We're all okay. We're safe." He kept his voice
low and consistent, hoping that this old trick would work. Much to his
relief, she eventually released her death-grip on his shoulders and sat
back down on the bed. "What scared you so much? ...Can you tell me your
name now?" Jake asked, aware of the nurses still watching them closely.
The psych counselor from the previous night appeared in no time at the
door, but he kept himself there. Seeing that the girl was still
non-responsive, Jake looked up to see the counselor still at the
doorway.
	"Mr. Kathler, we haven't yet received anything productive on this girl.
The police hadn't yet found anything on her, and as you've said last
night, they couldn't find any plausible reason to how she ended up on
the top of your building." 
	"Give them time. She'll remember somehow. She doesn't have to talk if
she doesn't want to, or maybe she can't; in which case, she can write or
maybe sign her words." He shrugged.
	"Are you sure you want to be responsible for her medical bill?" The
short, broad-shouldered man asked and Jake nodded, giving his "why not?"
look. The counselor shrugged and left to answer whoever was paging him.
The nurses left after changing the IV hooked onto the girl's arm,
leaving them alone again. 
	"It's okay." Jake mumbled. "You can have time. Just, please let me know
all about you when you're ready." He almost missed the tiny nod of her
head that made him smile again.


Henry Barrington's Hospital
Los Angels, CA
9 AM Next Day

Jake had no need to notify his office about what happened to him the
night before, and why he couldn't come into work the next morning. The
police had rummaged through the entire building, mostly asking questions
which only Jake could have answered. The local morning TV news mentioned
the orchestrated version of Jake's 'heroic act'.
In short, everybody in the city including the local newspapers knew what
happened to him and the little Jane Doe. Jake could feel his blood
slowly climb up to turn his face bright red. Now that he looked back to
the event, he didn't think it was heroic at all. It was rather a stupid
and careless thing to have done. The more he remembered the events that
transpired the previous night, the worse he felt. 'What was I thinking?'
He asked himself with every minute that passed by. 'God, what the hell
was I thinking?!' They both could have been dead by now, left smashed on
the wet asphalt for some poor city employee to clean up.
	Insisting the workers that the construction process should continue as
scheduled, Jake hanged up his cellular phone and dialed the number for
his house. The nice lady whom Jake called by her first name answered,
delighted to hear his voice now that she also had heard of the incident.
Jake assured her that everything was fine, but he needed her to feed
Stella for him. She told him she would, but that poor Stella hadn't had
much of an appetite since he was gone. He apologized to the both ladies.
He also told her that if the police turn up nothing from the
missing-persons reports and the hospital is ready to let them go, he'll
ask the department of social services to let him take her in. He thought
it beat the idea of sending the girl off to some facility, where
strangers would be surrounding her. Agreeing that he was doing the right
thing, the woman asked him what the little girl would like to eat. He
answered that he honestly didn't know, because the girl hadn't spoken a
single word. 
Leaving the culinary issues with her, he asked her a huge favor of
bringing him some clothes, his computer briefcase, and a few casual
outfit for the girl. He looked over her medical charts and read out the
girl's size. Jake also told her to use the petty cash box inside his
computer desk drawer, which she always used to do glossary shopping for
Jake. 
"It would be my pleasure, Jake." She replied with enthusiasm, making him
smile.
"You're a Goddess, Elly. Thanks." Jake thanked the heavens for letting
her have such a wonderful lady in his life. It was also at his
insistence that Elly called him by his first name, and to never call him
'sir'.  
	The police kept any information about the girl's condition or identity
out of the reach of press. It had been Jake's idea to check for all
possible avenues of official investigation before running to the press
with pictures and ask the public to find her parents for her. When
questioned why, Jake told them he didn't want anybody else other than
her real family to take her. One way or another, he added. The police
backed him up and they all went to work. 
Elly arrived much earlier than Jake ever expected her to, and soon Jake
changed into one of his clean designer suits. Elly had selected for the
little girl a blue denim over-all with a white tee shirt, and a sundress
much like the one she wore the previous night. He loved Elly even more
for bringing them her homemade lunches of a whole-size grilled chicken
sandwich packed with red bell peppers, sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, and
Monterey Jack cheese. He split it in half and let the little girl taste
it a little. She only took a bite before deciding it too spicy, and gave
her share back to him. Jake ate the remain of the girl's sandwich
without hesitation, much to Elly's surprise. He somehow didn't mind
sharing food with the girl, and he didn't even know why. 
	Jake was released hours ago, and knew that the girl would be released
by the noon next day. All that afternoon, Jake was beside the girl's bed
with a notepad and a pen placed in front of the girl. He kept asking her
every once in a while to write or say something, so they could
communicate easier. So far, the pages remained blank, and the girl
remained silent. The test results for her came back and the resident
clinical social worker/psych counselor soon came to visit what he called
the 'famous local hero'. Jake blushed and shook her hand. The man gave
Jake a few words of appreciation before leaving the room. 
	When the girl fell back asleep, Jake took out his laptop computer and
set it up to start working on a personal essay about the sources of
inspiration for his work. The essay was for the next issue of
Professional Architectural Journal, which also had an Internet web page,
where his essay will also be archived. Writing suited Jake; everyone in
close proximity to observe him told him so. He disagreed. 'Alex was the
one with a taste for writing', he always thought. She was the one who
wrote journals and diaries, pasting photos in the books and keeping them
all in the dark for him to find too much later. 
Jake saved the document before shutting the computer off, and picked up
the notepad and the pen he took out of his briefcase, kept separate from
the set he got for the sleeping girl. Jake's learned hands flew over the
pages in a familiar routine, an assembly of lines and shades gradually
growing into a rough sketch of a large building. His young mind was
still full of new ideas. Its seemingly unquenchable hunger for new
discoveries, deeper knowledge and understanding of his profession hardly
giving his body the time it needed for rest. 'Interpretation is
everything.' he always said. 'For expression without interpretation is
impossible'. 
	The girl slept through the rest of the day, and she didn't wake up
until eight that evening, which was when the same hospital volunteer
wheeled in their dinners. She finally showed some signs of an appetite
by consuming her Chicken Fettuccini-Alfredo and all of her vegetables.
However, Jake had passed on the offer yet again. Jake was exhausted, yet
his hand kept tracing the lines he'd been drawing, along with some side
notes. He admitted that he was one of those people who get so engrossed
in their task at hand, that they become oblivious to the passing of
time. It didn't take him too long to fall asleep. 
Jake never noticed when the girl reached for Jake's notepad that was
still left open on his lap, and began flipping through it.
	The next day began when 'the big boys' who made the contract with Jake
for him to build the skyscraper called on his cellular to ask him if the
police was finished with their 'poking around'. They also asked him
whether he got out of the hospital. After informing them of his status,
Jake confessed to them that the construction process was now delayed due
to the police involvement. Before they buried him and his firm's
reputations, Jake promised to be at the construction site as soon as the
social worker leaves. 
When asked about the girl, he told them about her scheduled discharge
from the hospital by noon the next day, at which time he could leave the
girl in Elly's hands because she'd agreed to stay overtime until his
return. The men on the other end agreed, then reminded him that his firm
partners were dying out there without his being around to oversee the
construction process. Jake made a brief and clear apology before hanging
up. 
Jake hoped the girl would get along with his long-time companion,
Stella. Stella already understood that not everyone she liked would
necessarily like her back, but Stella also knew the difference between
the good guys and the bad guys. Judging from what he could observe about
the girl, Jake was sure that Elly and Stella would both gladly keep her
their company. Unlike the hospital staff and the police officers, Jake
found it to be very little trouble not knowing the girl's name. He often
refrained from calling anyone by names, except for Alex. It was like he
never remembered their names. He just felt it silly to address them by
their names every time he talked to them. 
	Promptly at noon, the girl's assigned pediatrician came into the room
with a set of release forms for the girl. The doctor signed his name on
the 'attending physician' section, then asked the girl to tell him her
name, so that her file wouldn't remain a Jane Doe. However, she only
stared at the doctor standing in front of her and looked away. Jake
noted how her grip on the bed sheets had tightened, wrinkling the white
sheet as her knuckles whitened. Jake took the clipboard from the doctor
and asked if it was okay for him to write his name as the girl's
'emergency contact' and his address as her 'temporary address'. The
doctor agreed, but inevitably, the patient's name remained a Jane Doe.
	"It'll be okay." Jake said, trying to convince the doctor. "She'll be
fine." Just then, a tall woman in a pair of khakis and an Oxford shirt
walked in, smiling as she spotted Jake and the girl on the bed. 
	"Hello. You must be Jake Kathler. I'm Linda Lowry from the Department
of Social Services."
	"Oh, you're the field social worker. Of course." Jake replied as he
shook the woman's hand. Even though Jake knew she was going an extra
mile to make him feel less intimidated, he still couldn't help looking
at the woman like a one-person court operator: a judge, a jury, and an
executioner. He couldn't bear the thought of the little girl ending up
in a strange facility somewhere, its floors packed with homeless kids.
'She wasn't a homeless.' he said to himself. 'She had a home. Give her
time and she'll tell me'. 
	"I understand you wanted to take us to your house for assessment?"
Linda asked, looking at him as if to ask for a confirmation. He simply
nodded. "Do you have any experience with children?" The question puzzled
him for a moment, but he knew it was coming. Sparing her time and
energy, he began giving her a run-down of what she might need to know.
	"If you're asking me if I am a father, that 's a no. Have I ever had an
intention to be a father? Yes, I was engaged before, about ...three
years ago. Do I like kids? Yes, I do. Do I have any experience being a
legal guardian? No. A foster parent? No. Have I been around kids at all?
Yes, I have. Although I must admit it wasn't too often. Do I get along
with kids? That depends completely on the kids I'm with, because they
are just like adults. Do I get along with this particular girl in front
of me? So far, so good. I believe she trusts me. 
"Do I have a criminal record? Nope, just one parking violation ticket I
got three years ago. Do I drink? Very little, and I mean it. I have no
hard liquor or beer in the house. I drink wine once in a while, though.
Do I keep my house clean? That's what I hired Elly for. She's my
housekeeper as well as one of my closest friends. Do I have any pets?
Yes. I have a very well trained dog named Stella, and she loves kids. 
"Do I have enough room to fit in the three of us, and the housekeeper?
Wait and see, Linda. But to give you a hint, is an entire loft big
enough for you? It was a glue factory before I bought it, but don't you
worry your busy mind about some evil chemical substance giving us
cancers or turning our hair green, because I checked for them before I
ever moved in. Do I have a steady job? Yes, I do. I'm a professional
architect, and one of the executives of our firm. 
"Do I have enough spare time to spend with this girl? I normally don't.
However, I can conduct the business right from my own house, because
it's also my private office. I'll hold meetings in my house, so I won't
have to go anywhere this girl can't. Once she gets used to living with
me, I plan on taking her to work with me; in which case, I won't let her
out of my sight. But considering the incident that happened a few days
ago, I don't think I'll ever take that chance. Once is enough. Also,
since you are here by the orders of the DSS, you are very welcome to
stop by my house at any time for whatever reasons you deem as
necessary."
	".... ...Thank you, Mr. Kathler." Linda she choked out the words,
finally seeing that he was finished. She immediately began writing out
her notes on what he just said. 
	"Please, call me Jake." He said, offering a somewhat apologetic smile.
"I'm sorry if that came out a bit forcibly. I'm not too good with
interviews. I mean, I'm fine, really. But I... well, the last time I
talked to the police and the social services were when Alex.... Ummm,
check your records. It's all there." Jake waved his hand as to indicate
his dislike of the subject. Linda looked at him, then to the girl, and
understood what the man's gesture meant.
	"The police gave me the copy of your case files, Mr. Kathler. I know
what incident you're speaking of, but I still need to ask you some
questions regarding some issues concerning that case. It's a required
procedure, and I'm sorry." She said, trying not to get into them in
front of the girl. Jake gave her a slow nod of thanks, and looked at the
girl in front of him. He noted that her green eyes were sparkling again.
'Searching for the answers to Linda's questions', he thought. 
Jake covered his discomfort with a smile, then stood up to pick up their
over-night bags and his briefcase while Linda reached for the freshly
cleaned, nicely dressed girl off of her bed. She jerked, trying to free
herself from the woman's hold. Jake stopped and sighed. He let Linda put
her down and knelt down in front of her just as he had done when he
first rescued her.
	"I know that you're still sore from the fall you took. I know you don't
know this woman, and you don't want her touching you. I would like to
lift you up and hold you like I did before, but my right shoulder's
busted. Okay, here's the deal. We need to go five floors down by an
elevator, and then we need go to my car to go home. I think you're
healthy enough to walk on your own, but one of us will have to hold your
hand while we do. Or you can get the easy ride on a wheel chair, and
I'll push. Which one would you like?" 
Jake spoke as he pointed to the wheelchair resting beside the bed. "You
don't have to say anything, and you don't have to write anything like
I've been asking you to do. Just take my hand, and I'll walk you. Or
point to the wheelchair, and you'll have the ride."   
	Jake could feel both the girl and Linda's eyes on him, both searching
for their own answers. But he couldn't help letting out a chuckle when
the girl's tiny hand reached for his left hand. He gave her a smile and
stood up, handing his over-night bag to Linda. "Would you help me with
this, please? I need my left hand free, and I can only carry my
briefcase on my left shoulder." 
	"Certainly." Without a complaint, she took the black bag from his hand
and gestured for them to move. Jake was focused on the traffic in the
hallway, that he missed the girl looking back to stare at Linda's brief
smile following behind them. 




Jake's House
Canoga Park, CA
7PM Same Day

The elegant dinner Elly cooked for them was served promptly at seven,
for Linda needed to return to her office. Elly, who had stayed overtime
yet again, had received high praise all around for her cooking. It was
plainly obvious that Linda wanted to stay for much longer. The girl's
move-in process had gone fairly smoothly, and Linda suggested only a few
things that needed to be fixed around the loft before she gave Jake her
seal of approval. 
The issue was the unusually small number of walls in the house. Jake
purposely kept everything in the open, including his bed, and had very
few walls and doors to separate each space. Jake promised her to call a
furniture rental company first thing in the morning to install the
girl's own bed. There was no use buying new furniture since the girl's
stay was only until everything could get sorted out and her parents
could be found.  
Linda had to agree with Jake on the fact that this was an easy place for
anyone to keep an eye on the girl. Plus, this place was absolutely
gorgeous in its simplicity. Linda's trained eyes also noted the girl had
been fairly relaxed since she had stepped inside, making Linda wondered
if the girl was slightly claustrophobic. But what she found the most
astounding was how much the girl seemed to trust and need Jake Kathler.
Even when he escorted Linda out to the door, the girl's small form was
clinging firmly to the fabric of his denim-clad left leg. She made a
mental note to suggest counseling sessions for Jake in the future, after
the girl's parents were identified and the very-attached pair will have
to say good-bye.
	"Well, that was fun." Jake said as he closed the door. He showed his
houseguest to the bed, which Elly made neatly every day. He opened the
covers and sat the girl down on the mattress before start untying her
small shoes. "I don't know if you are tired or sleepy, but it's almost
nine o'clock. I don't mind if you don't want to go to sleep just yet. If
you want to watch cartoons or something, I'll turn the TV on and you can
watch it for as long as you want. But I need to be working over there,
so I can't sit down with you and watch it. But you come to me whenever
you need something, all right?" 
Jake saw her nod to the question, and nodded back. He eHeHtook her socks
off and handed her the white pajamas Elly picked out for her earlier at
the boutique with her other clothes. He saw that her green eyes focusing
on him, but not on his eyes. 'She's thinking', he thought. "I believe
you can get changed on your own. The restroom is just behind those glass
doors, so you can help yourself to anything that's in there except for
my razors. Get ready for bed, and you can do anything you want within
legal limits." 
He stood up and walked over to the large white desk, where numerous
blueprints declared their own places. He switched on his main desk
computer sitting on its own desk next to the work desk. Next, he took
out his laptop from his briefcase, inserting the saved essay document
into the much larger desk computer to be transmitted to the journal
editors via Internet. He then checked all his e-mails and phone
messages. He replied all of them, and scribbled down a few numbers.
Recognizing that half the phone messages had been from his business
partners, he didn't wait for the morning to call them. The phone was
answered on the second ring.
	"Hey, it's Jake. I'm sorry that I didn't make it. But believe me,
things are getting a little funky here. ...I'll have to ask you guys to
move all meetings that require my presence to be held at my house.
...Yes, that's exactly what I said. Move them all down here, because I
can't leave my house. ...Well, let's just say that I have a very special
houseguest whom I cannot leave. ...No, it's nothing to do with the big
boys! Believe me, she's a very nice girl. You'll like her. ...No! You
know how I feel about relationships. ...Okay. Thanks, man. I owe you a
big one."
	When he hanged up smiling to himself, he felt a slight pull on his
right leg and lowered himself to face the little girl. 'What are you
talking about?' her eyes said. He squatted, placing the phone down next
to his feet. "Well, that was my friends at work. I needed to tell them
to come down to this house whenever they need me there. Remember the
roof? ...Of course you remember the damn roof! What am I saying?
"Anyway, when we first met, I was there to build the building. That
building still needs to be built, and my friends need my help, because I
designed it. I also believe that there will be many days when I really
need to be working at the building. If that happens, Elly and Stella
will keep you company. But if Elly can't make it, I'll take you with me
to work. You'll be in our office, and I'll make sure that you'll be safe
there. ...Just in case you're thinking about it, I'm sorry to say that I
can't let you climb the building again. You'll give me a heart-attack if
you do." Jake stood back up with the phone in hand. The girl's eyes
followed his every move.
	He gave a sharp short whistle, and soon the ever-loyal Stella came
running up to them. He rubbed her head, looking straight into her large
warm eyes. "Stella, keep her company for a while in front of the TV,
will you? I'll be over there in a few." He pointed to the TV set, then
to his desks much like he had done with the little girl. But the girl
didn't head for the television set, but walked directly to his desks. He
followed her and watched her closely to see just what she was trying to
tell him. 
She pointed to a stuck of printing papers for his color laser writer.
When he handed her one, she asked for more by stretching out her hand.
He handed her about five more sheets, then smiled when she pointed to an
opened wooden box full of coloring pencils. They were normally used for
the blueprints of outer sketches he'd done to be drawn by the computers
later for presentations. He gave the whole box to her, and watched as
she walked away toward the coffee table with Stella on toe from behind
her. Jake faced his workload and settled himself down into the chair.
	It was rare for Jake to get any decent sleep, and he ended up staying
up working until three in the morning. Not only that, he'd done so
non-stop before finally calling it quit. 
	"Hey, you're not alone right now. Remember?" He mumbled to himself as
his mind focused back on what was around him. He turned to the bed he
told the girl to sleep in, but with a sick horror, he found it empty.
"Oh, shit!" He jumped off of his chair in search for her. He hadn't gone
any more than ten steps before he found her asleep at the coffee table
where she had been busy drawing before falling asleep there. He released
a sigh of relief as he found Stella practically wrapped around the
girl's tiny body, both deeply asleep.
He couldn't pick her up and take her to bed because of his injuries.
Instead, he made due by taking a blanket out of his bed and draped it
over both sleepers. Stella's eyes popped open at the commotion, but she
didn't make a move when she noted Jake's index finger pressed vertically
against his lips. He quietly picked up the scattered coloring pencils
and crayons, returning them all into the wooden box sitting on the
coffee table.
	When he began collecting the papers, his entire body froze. His mouth
stayed slightly open, and only his eyes darted from one sketch to
another. A long time passed before he was able to verbally respond with
a "Wow!" 
The drawings were clearly above and 'way beyond' as Jake noted, the
capability of a normal seven-year old. Jake's trained eyes quickly found
some of them to be three-dimensional, with complicated lines and circles
darting across the papers from edge to edge. 
There were two sketches he failed to understand. They had been drawn
with such vivid and bright colors, containing what looked to be vague
human figures scattering here and there. He took them all back to his
desks, intrigued by the chaos radiating from each one. He really hoped
she'd be able to recreate the images on canvases. If anyone with the
right training could see these drawings and recognize her artistry, she
could have a fairly stable life on her own. ...Just as he had. His
talent in architecture was discovered at early adolescence, and it had
taken him up to where he was now. The girl was no more than seven, and
was already showing signs of becoming a master artist. 
Jake placed the drawings back onto the coffee table and sat down. For
several minutes, he watched the girl sleeping soundly next to Stella,
but this time with a renewed respect for her. He then went to bed with
the one question he'd been asking himself since day one: 'How could
anyone have left her out there?' 
	


Jake's House
Canoga Park, CA
8:30 AM Next Day

The bright sun penetrated through the tinted glass of the framed
windows, forming square patterns on the smooth surface of the loft's
polished wooden floor. Jake opened his eyes at the familiar sensation of
Stella's tongue mopping his entire face. He moaned, wanting to stay
asleep. 
With his eyes still closed, he reached over to Stella and patted her on
her head. She gave a slight snort, followed by a whimper. That was when
Jake remembered he hadn't taken his daily walk to the diner yesterday or
the day before; when he had practically begged Elly to get his mail for
him. He grunted and forced himself to get up. He opened his eyes as he
felt his feet touch the floor. Stella immediately placed her paws on his
lap, licking his face some more.
	"All right. ...All right girl! I think you cleaned my face well enough.
...Let me hit the shower, all right? Then we'll go for the walk."
Yawning, he stood on his full six-foot height and stretched his body to
get his blood going. He closed his eyes and stretched himself further
into a tiptoe position as he felt the sleep forced out of his system
before he again put his feet back down on the floor. 
"I'm sorry I haven't been able to keep up with your schedule. I never
meant any disrespect." He said as he opened his eyes again, his mind now
clear and ready.
That was when he came face to face with the little girl who now stood at
the opposite side of his bed, and the rest of the world dove back into
his head. He'd have to take the girl with him to the walk. He gave her a
smile. 
"Morning." He said as he lightly patted her on the top of her head. The
girl kept staring at him, and it took him a little while to realize he
was dressed only in his gray boxer shorts. Although that was practically
how he slept every night, it sure looked unwelcome in front of a little
girl. Embarrassed, he apologized to her for his indecency before walking
toward the shower room. 
Jake kept rubbing his eyes with his hands, which was why he never
noticed the pyramid made of the wood blocks on the floor until he
stepped on top of it and fell on his rear. He gasped as the hard edge of
the wood came in contact with his flesh through the fabric of his
athletic boxer shorts. He worked on trying to get his breath back under
control as he heard the girl's footsteps coming toward him. He cursed
under his breath and held out his hand toward the girl to gesture her to
stay where she was. "I'm fine, I'm fine. It just hurts a bit." Jake
grimaced as he stood up, rubbing at the angry bruises he was sure were
developing on his rear cheek.
	Once he was showered, he quickly got dressed in one of his starched
blue jeans and a white long sleeved v-neck tee shirt. The girl had been
playing with his basketballs, keeping Stella company on the court. He
motioned for the girl to come to him, and true to his guess, Stella
followed at her heels. He grabbed his keys and wallet out of the pocket
of his trench coat.
	"I need to take Stella for a walk, but I can't leave you here alone.
I'd like you to come with Stella and me. We usually stop at a little
diner near West Hills, where I usually eat my breakfasts and afternoon
snacks. They have a bunch of post boxes inside, and that's where I get
my mail. I hope you're hungry, because they always have a decent
breakfast menu. Their homemade granola and fruit muffins alone are worth
the trip, you know. Plus, it's not too far away. ...Is that okay?" 
Jake looked into the green eyes with a hopeful look, and was rewarded
with her walking to the front door. Relieved, he grabbed Stella's rarely
used leather leash and followed her.
	It started about three years ago. Out of his need for finding answers,
he placed an ad in the personal section of a local newspaper, asking for
any woman willing to trade the experiences of their lives for his reply.
Sometimes he replied in writing, with an enclosed personal check,
because that's what he promised. 'Willing to pay top dollars for your
experiences.' That was the deal, although not every woman who wrote to
him wanted him to pay her. He knew this, because he had several of his
checks returned to him. 
The idea had grown out of Alex's passage in her diary. Only when she
wrote it, she was not planning on acting on it. Alex thought of herself
as a woman 'out of control', hungry for an adventure because her fiance
made her 'too happy' who spared little time for her. But for him, the
purpose of this weekly ad was to understand just what goes on inside
women's minds. The best way was to ask them directly. 
Their physical distance created by corresponding afforded both Jake and
the authors enough privacy. The authors didn't need to know who their
mystery 35 year-old wounded man was, nor what he did with his life. Just
Jake's 'why' was good enough for many authors, and 'by writing out these
experiences', he thought 'authors could learn something about themselves
that they hadn't noticed before'.
	They walked along the port's security railing, watching the dark water
sway in rhythm. Jake wondered if the girl had ever seen an ocean. She
never freaked out or showed any particular fascination toward oceans or
lakes she'd seen on television, so he figured she might have lived along
a coast, near a lake, or in an island. 
Jake frequently took driving trips out to the beaches nearby, sometimes
taking the route over Santa Monica Mountains. These days, such drives
were to get away from his work and concentrate on the issues in his
personal life. He'd often saved the women's letters to read on such
occasions, because he wouldn't be drawing any attention to himself
there, not even if he read the women's letters aloud while walking along
the port with Stella by his side. 
Eventually, Jake pointed to a reddish brown brick building ahead of
them. It was a simply constructed, single-story building. A fairly old
aluminum trashcan was placed just outside its entrance, announcing its
open policy regarding its customer's lifestyle. In short, everyone was
welcome. Jake pushed open the diner's glass doors and stepped inside,
then held the doors just long enough for the little girl to step inside.
She walked just a half step into the diner, stopping to look behind her.
Her eyes were fixed on Stella, whose leash was now tied loosely to the
patio railing. Jake realized her concern, and immediately went about
explaining Stella's predicament.
	"Unfortunately, Stella can't come inside. We won't be in here for long,
and Stella's used to the wait. Don't worry, she'll be all right out
there. Restaurants for don't let live animals inside unless they are
working for the police or as a seeing-eye dog. I've also heard of a few
pets-only restaurants where the only dining customers are pets, but I'm
afraid this isn't one of them." 
Still holding one of the glass doors with his left hand, Jake hoped she
wouldn't start protesting by planting herself at the door as he saw her
head outside. However, the girl only went to pat Stella on her head
before stepping all the way into the diner and headed toward the tables.
She declared one by the windows as their table. Jake smiled with relief
and followed her. A familiar waitress came over to their table
immediately, pouring a generous serving of fresh coffee into a mug that
was already set on the table in front of Jake. He smiled his greeting
and picked up the menu for the girl to read.
	"Hi, Jake. I see that you're busy." The waitress got right to the
point, instead of starting off with a nice 'good morning'. Jake nearly
choked on the steaming bitter liquid he was sipping. Coming from this
woman, he knew that the question could mean a hundred different things. 
	"Hi yourself. Go easy on us, will you? I've had enough of that teasing
already."
	"I know. I heard about the amazing stunt you pulled. No wonder I hadn't
seen you around for a while." She leaned forward to get closer to Jake,
then offered a handshake to the girl who took it with a remarkable
replica of Jake's all-business attitude. Jake wanted to laugh aloud at
the sight, but he settled for another smile.
	"Yeah, well... You can make my morning a very happy one by kindly
getting me an order of Denver Omelet with, and a side order of
whole-wheat toast with that delicious apple jam to eat in here. I also
want to order a bag of homemade granola to go." Jake's eyes focused back
to the girl in front of him.
	"Okay. The toasts are to be done a bit on the crispy side, right?"
Raising an eyebrow at his inattention toward her, the waitress kept
running her pen over the memo pad.
	"Yeah." Jake nodded, still keeping his eyes on the girl who studied the
menu like it was written in a foreign language. He shifted in his seat,
trying to read what the girl was thinking.
	"Did you want harsh browns with your order?" The waitress could tell
that Jake was nervous. 'For what?' She wondered for a moment, then
decided to leave it alone. She knew from experience that Jake wasn't
very much of a morning person. She had seen Jake Kathler come into this
diner nearly every day, usually to order brunches and afternoon snacks.
Although he ordered breakfasts on the rare occasions when he decided to
have one, he'd never ordered a 'real food' here before. It was because
he never stayed long enough, but also because he always came alone
except for the large dog and he apparently disliked making the
four-legged lady waiting. 'What's with you?' the waitress silently
questioned him.
"Yeah, that'll be nice." Jake replied without looking away from the girl
in front of him, who was now eyeing the counter rather than the menu.
Her tiny neck was craning, her eyes searching for something to point to.
Jake held out a hand for the waitress to wait for the girl's order, then
kept on watching what those green eyes focused on the most. When he
figured out, he smiled. 
"Muffin?" Her little head spun back to meet his eyes, and a tiny nod
gave him the answer. "Okay. Which one?" He asked, standing up from his
seat and squatting beside the glass display case that housed all the
pastries. She followed him and pointed to the row of blueberry muffins,
then to the chocolate muffins. Jake ordered two of each with a glass of
milk, because he knew she had it for dinner the previous night and she
liked it. He was yet to figure out what kind of milk the girl favored
the most, but he figured 2% was all right. 
The waitress smiled and placed two of the muffins out of the ordered
four into a brown pastry bag and placed it into the girl's tiny hand.
She then placed the other two onto two paper napkins and handed them
again to the girl's free hand. Jake gave the waitress a smile of thanks
and headed back for their table. 
	"Okay, which one do you want to eat first? The deal here is you get to
pick which one you can eat right now, but you have to finish one to have
another. You can eat as much as you want, for as long as you won't make
yourself sick." He watched as she picked up the blueberry muffin and
began unwrapping. Her glass of milk arrived just in time. Upon seeing
the girl's over-stuffed mouth, the waitress gave her little customer an
honest smile.
	"She's so adorable, Jake. You should come here with her more often. We
could use some change in atmosphere here." The woman commented, resting
her free hand over the belt of her uniform. Jake nodded his agreement.
Many out-of-town small diners such as this one hadn't had many children
as customers. In what Jake could see of the diner's kitchen beyond the
long counter, the veteran cook was flipping Jake's Denver omelet over
the flaming old frying pan.
	"The chances are good, by the looks of it." Jake replied as he watched
the cook call for the waitress to get over to the counter. The woman
rolled her eyes. 
"I'm coming!" She called out before she headed for the burly man. When
she returned with the steaming plate and set it down in front of Jake,
he saw the girl's eyes widen a little. Jake took a bite to savor its
delicious taste, then took another. The girl still worked on her
blueberry muffin, but her eyes were set on him. The corners of his mouth
curled up a little into a teasing smile. "Finish that, and I'll share
this with you." He said and continued to enjoy his meal.  
	Jake had been noticing a strange welcoming feeling he hadn't had for as
long as he could remember. The question was simple, as was the answer.
'How long has it been since I had a decent breakfast with someone, and
really enjoyed the experience?' He was forced to admit that it had been
'pretty damn long'. 
When Jake was still living with Alex, she left for work early every
morning, thus leaving little chance to share a breakfast table with him.
They'd both slept in on the weekends, and Jake often worked on Saturday
afternoons. Plus, his frequent out-of-town business trips for meetings,
seminars, or guest lectures hadn't helped them any. 
Before meeting Alex for the first time, or before joining his current
firm as a partner, Jake's life had been even crazier. His bosses worked
their subordinates hard, thus forcing Jake to be up every morning at
five-thirty and still be forced to resort to grab a bite or two in his
car on his way to work. 'So, how long has it been?' He asked himself
again, swallowing with horror when he failed to remember.
	The intensity of the girl's gaze snapped him out of his reverie. Jake
soon realized that the girl was finally done with her first muffin and
was now after his omelet. He laughed aloud at her serious expression,
and cut a rather large piece of its untouched corner. He moved it over
to the coffee saucer that came with his coffee mug, watching as her eyes
followed the piece of omelet the whole time. She took a bite without
waiting for it to cool down, then rewarded him with a tiny smile. He
nodded his approval, then cut another piece and added it onto the little
dish without being asked for it. 
After getting up and paying for their check, he asked her to stay
sitting down at the table while he retrieved his mail. He made sure each
month that the newspaper would run his personal ad on their Sunday
editions. He smiled as he pulled out the contents of his mailbox. Four
new letters to add to his growing library of what he came to refer to as
the 'Red Shoe Diaries'. 
'Should be an interesting day', Jake thought as he led their way out. 


Jake's House
Canoga Park, CA
10 AM  

The police was waiting for him in front of the house when he returned.
Narrowing his eyes, he unleashed Stella and motioned for her to get
inside. Jake also noticed Elly,  already in for the day and starting the
laundry. Jake turned to face the officers and cleared his throat. They
shook his hands for greetings. Stella gave each of the officers a
once-over, much to their discomfort and much to Jake's appreciation.
Stella sniffled a little before moving away from the door and accepting
them in. Jake patted her on her head for a 'thank you', and watched as
she retreated to the stuck of pillows lying in front of the television
set. Jake noted with a glance that the TV had been tuned into a 24-hour
music channel for their morning selection.
	"What can I do for you, officers? Have you found anything on the girl,
yet?" Jake asked hopefully, and was answered with their heads shaking a
negative answer. Jake nodded his acknowledgement and motioned for them
to sit down at the kitchen counter. The shorter one of the two rested
his hands on its marble surface, while the other took out a note pad
from the inner pocket of his suit jacket.
	"It's been three days, and we haven't found any missing persons report
matching the girl's profile. We'll keep searching, so don't get us wrong
here. But all the candidates who are being checked out right now don't
look at all promising. We usually keep these cases open and active for
as long as we see fit, then they become open-inactive, which means we
don't go out on a limb to look for them. 
"Usually, the percentages of finding missing children 48 hours after
they disappeared is very low, and to actually retrieve them safely would
take miracles. The department chief is under pretty heavy pressure to
push this case through because of the media attention."
"Oh! Don't we all love to talk politics until we're blue in the face?"
Sarcasm dripped from Jake's each word, and the officers had the grace to
wince.
"...My point is, we're at a dead-end here, and the chief is currently
thinking about passing this case up to the FBI."
	"The FBI?" Jake was puzzled. 
	"Yes." The other officer said, now reading out of his notes. "We've
also been thinking about telecasting over the local news about this
case, and hopefully someone with a sufficient amount knowledge regarding
this child will..." Jake's hands involuntarily shot out to stop the
officer from going any further.
	"Wait a minute." Jake quickly pulled his hand back. "Are you talking
about the local news? Or, are you thinking...? I mean, surely you're not
talking about one of those newsmagazines, Unsolved Mysteries, the Today
show...stuff like that. Are you??" 
Jake's voice climbed high enough to be overheard by Elly. Officers
looked impatiently at Jake and then at each other. Jake shook his head
resignedly and lowered his voice down. "Absolutely not. We don't know
whom this girl was with during the period in which she was missing.
Kidnappers are usually someone who know their victims well. I don't want
to risk the chance of her kidnapper coming here to find her."
	"Well, it is certainly a risk worth taking..." The first officer
complained, no doubt being sandwiched in between the pressure from his
higher-ups' and the one cast over them by the public. Jake leaned in
closer to the officers, and together they formed a tight circle.
	"No, I won't do that. I'm sorry for being difficult here, but I need to
take these precautions. Nearly half the city knows what happened on that
stormy night. Sure, some don't give a damn about what happens to her, or
to me. But it terrifies me to know that the sick bastard who took that
little girl out of her home may still be out there, looking for her."
Jake's anger-flushed cheeks grew redder each time he paused to take a
breath. There was no way he was going to allow this girl's story to be
turned into the media's flavor-of-the-month.
The second officer sighed resignedly. The first officer was rolling his
eyes with a 'why me?' expression plastered on his entire face. Both
officers plainly saw that Jake not only put his feet down on this one,
but that the man was digging his heels deep into the ground. They needed
a compromise before Jake threw them out of the door; thus leaving them
to face their superiors without a peace offering to ward off the blows
on their service records.
	"How about at least running an article in the papers if I promise to
authorize no use of your photos? Just one photograph of the girl, with a
short summary of what help we need from the general public. ...I
understand that she doesn't communicate verbally, but that doesn't mean
she's mute. The public has always been a great source of information,
and they've provided us with clues to the leads that none of us could
get to on our own." 
The officers hoped Jake would give in to this one. Jake was calmed down
by this time, sitting back down in his kitchen stool and looking at the
girl in question. She was petting Stella and staring back at him from
the other corner of the room. He pursed his lips into thin lines,
silently telling her his decision as well as his apology for not being
able to include her opinion on this matter. Jake turned back to the
officers and finally nodded his consent. Both officers exhaled a breath
of relief and muttered words of thanks that Jake felt very undeserving.
 	After the officers left, Jake got ready for the meeting with his
associates. He didn't have any table that would be large enough to seat
everyone comfortably. He immediately resorted to using the kitchen
counter as substitute, which was just vacated by the police officers.
Spreading out the blueprints he had been working on the previous night,
Jake hooked up his screen phone with the modem in case they needed to
have an on-line conference. 
Next, he changed from his casual attire and got into a business suit. He
even made enough coffee to satisfy all the twelve firm partners probably
for hours. The house was already spotless clean, thanks to Elly. By the
time the cavalry arrived, she was done with the laundry and had gone to
the mall to pick up some more outfits for the little girl. Jake again
considered himself fortunate to have found such dedicated woman for a
housekeeper.
Stella kept the girl company at the basketball court, but Jake never
forgot to open a fresh pack of printing papers and to place the box of
coloring pencils within easy reach for her. Soon enough, he stopped
hearing the sound of basketballs bouncing on the floor followed by
Stella's claws clicking busily on the floor.
	The meeting had gone overtime, then kept dragging on for even longer.
Jake exhausted himself just by trying to give detailed explanations for
what should go where, and why. 'It's a fucking skyscraper for crying out
loud!' Jake screamed inside. 'Why don't they just get it?!' 
Repeatedly at great lengths, Jake informed the entire panel that he'd
ordered all the models to be made at the usual shop; told them they
would see all the points he's been addressing to them once they see the
models. He was damn tired of repeating himself for Lord knew how many
times in the course of the last four hours. His partners remained
reluctant to go ahead with Jake's meticulously constructed plans,
mumbling something about the rising cost of the supplies. 
The problem was, they wanted to switch a few materials to the cheaper
brand. Jake kept refusing this flat-out, claiming that the government's
safety inspector would mark them off for it. 'Quality', he stressed
again, 'is the only thing that will assure us our good name'. In return,
Jake agreed to do their firm's television advertisement, which he'd been
refusing to do for the past four months. 
Jake didn't see how a twenty-second TV commercial would change the
quality of their work in any way, and he wondered about how they were
going to afford it. But looking at the mess that his house had become
since opening up the meeting, then looking at the tired faces of its
every occupant, including Stella; Jake decided he was too wiped out to
care. 
	The meeting finally broke at three in the afternoon, five hours after
it began and two hours over-time. Jake nearly hauled the group of sorry
looking men out of his front door in his haste to get rid of them. Once
seeing the cars drive away and out of his sight, Jake headed straight
for his closets. He threw out his jacket and trousers, not bothering to
change out of the dress shirt. He slipped back into his blue jeans and
donned a fresh pair of socks. 
"What a day." Jake couldn't even bring himself to contemplate just how
long it would take to clean up the mess of coffee stains and the used
coffee filters clattering the kitchen area, not to mention the
blueprints and the reading materials that scattered haphazardly on his
work desk. Instead, he headed directly toward the basketball court and
found the girl watching television with its volume turned way down, so
as not to disturb him and his sorry excuse for colleagues. 
'How did she figure that out?' He wondered, not remembering teaching the
girl the full function of his television set. But then, any seven-year
old nowadays knew how to use computers. He sat down heavily next to her
on the floor and stretched himself on the cool hardwood surface. When he
opened his eyes and focused on what was on the television, he nearly had
a heart attack, because it was tuned into an adult movie network. He
dove for the TV remote, changing it into the Learning Channel.
	"Just how long have you been watching that?!" Jake made a scolding
face, though it didn't remain there for long. "I'm very, truly sorry
that it took this long. Thanks for being so patient, and even more for
keeping the volume down. ...But I really hope you weren't watching that
adult channel for too long." Jake reached his left hand to pat her on
her small back. 
Jake also spotted two crumpled plastic wrappings on the floor and judged
the girl had eaten her lunch. Also judging by the crumbs around Stella's
mouth, he figured about a half of them went to the girl's four-legged
new friend. Jake gave Stella a look of 'we'll have a long talk later,
Miss.' Stella gave him a whine. 
Jake didn't want to have to speak for the rest of the day. His voice was
already hoarse from inhaling the cigarette smoke his associates puffed
out into the air like chimneys. Jake was allergic to the smoke, but not
so much that he couldn't tolerate them for some time. This house was
large enough for the smoke to get evened out, but he made a mental note
to open the ceiling windows soon as he regained enough energy to give a
damn. The top windows were equipped with a remote-control system, and he
used them often for demonstrations of new building models aside from the
large light he used to replicate the movement of the sun.
	 Both his body and mind were now demanding a long nap, and it was
getting increasingly harder to keep himself awake. He meant to ask her
about her drawings, since it looked like she's done some more of her
masterpiece work; but his body protested from speaking to open up
another discussion.
	"I need a little nap. Right now, I'm having trouble remembering my full
name. Please don't go anywhere without me, and please wake me up if
someone's at the door. Thanks." He barely finished as he drew a pillow
that lay nearby and rested his head on it. 
Jake didn't respond when the little girl curled up next to him with her
own pillow in her hands. He remained non-responsive as the girl went to
sleep, practically hugging the pillow under her head and shoulders.
Neither of them minded when Stella joined beside the girl, again
wrapping herself around the girl as if to protect them.
This was exactly how Elly found them when she entered the house. She
smiled and placed her load from the shopping on the majestic hand-curved
wood bench by the basketball court. She then pulled a blanket she took
earlier from Jake's bed covers and covered the three sleepers with it.
Stella's eyes popped open, but upon seeing Elly pressing her index
finger on her mouth just the way Jake always did, she went back to
sleep. Elly managed to clean up the mess from the meeting without waking
any of them, and began preparing their dinner.


Jake's House
Next Day

Jake was still a bit tired when he went to the hospital with the girl.
He generally went there for the follow-up check on his shoulder. The
girl was given a cursory examination and got done before Jake. He took
her home, but he was summoned to the construction site before he could
even sit down, because their supply company reps came over to smooth out
a few bumps that developed in between them. Jake groaned, knowing he
couldn't possibly take this one into his house. 
Pushing away the guilt he felt, Jake confided their situations to Elly
and asked her to watch the girl; and he meant 'really watch' the girl
for him until he returned. She agreed, much to his appreciation. Walking
over to the girl, Jake explained the story and asked for her
forgiveness. When she shrugged, he gave a little kiss on her forehead
without thinking why. Wincing upon looking at his watch, Jake grabbed
his briefcase and flew out of the door before Elly could change her
mind. 
	The ordered rental furniture arrived just as he returned from the
office. As he was signing the forms, Linda arrived unannounced and
checked everything over. Jake expected her to visit them, because he
allowed her an unlimited access. His reasoning was, if she was to
announce her visit to them  each and every time, then 'the bad guys'
(exactly Jake's wording) would get their chances to bury all evidence of
child abuse.
	Linda, surprised that he would deliberately make the suggestion,
agreed. After arranging the bed somewhat close to Jake's but still
allowing the occupants to have some privacy, Linda gave Jake another
seal of approval. Jake placed a few large plants in between the beds as
sort of a screen. He made a mental note to get a few real screens,
complete with wheels at the bottom, like the ones used by many
hospitals. Linda added another seal of approval, because the satellite
cable company guy came to personally set up the blocking chip for Jake's
TV, so that no inappropriate program would be accessible to the little
girl. 
Jake could tell that something was bothering Linda, just as it was clear
to him that she wasn't telling. When he asked anyway, she reluctantly
confided in him that if Jake grew too close to the girl, it would do
them a serious damage when the time comes to for them to let each other
go. Jake was very aware of that fact. They were nearly too close for any
two strangers who'd known each other for less than a week, and he didn't
mean it like the passionate lovers who'd decide to get married
over-night. It was something deeper. Something stronger. He felt as if
they wouldn't need a spoken word to communicate with each other. 
	After some consideration, Jake asked Linda to bring in her overnight
bag and asked her to make any additional assessment, but to watch how
they communicated closely. Jake believed he was close to the girl as
anyone could be, given the difficulties of the situation. Linda agreed,
still puzzled at the series of unusual requests this man sprang on her,
but understanding that they were more than any social worker could ask
for in an investigation. 
Linda immediately saw that Jake was trying to prove himself. This man's
level of commitment didn't make her feel any easier about the possible
difficulty of their inevitable separation. She'd need to check out where
this man had taken the little girl to, and his usual hangouts to
complete her field report. She hated acting like a spy, but they were
necessary procedures and she was sure Jake would understand. She also
made a mental note to fully check Jake's background. He knew too much
about her needs in this investigation; especially considering that he
had no professional training in social services issues.
	The next morning, Jake took the girl and Linda with Stella to the diner
where he got his mail. Taking this rare opportunity, Jake told Linda
about how he loved this diner, and how everyone in here knew him for
years. 
	"If you have any questions," he told her, "ask the waitress over there;
the woman with long brown hair. She has ears like the black holes when
it came to gossips. Nothing escapes". Linda laughed at this one. 
When he walked over to his mailbox while they waited for their order,
Linda asked the little girl if he always talked and acted like he does
in front of her. When she insisted the girl that she had to know, she
nodded. Linda nodded back, thoroughly impressed that a single man with
his level of inexperience with children could show this much affection
and patience to a total stranger. As a professional, she couldn't just
give Jake an all-round A's without making sure that he would stay this
way everyday until they could find her parents. She'd seen enough
dead-beat parents, adoptive and biological, to learn not to trust anyone
until she eliminated her every doubt. Jake returned with the mail,
grinning at several hand-written envelopes before stashing them inside
his trench coat pocket. 
	"Letters." Jake said, smiling shyly. "Women write to me." When pursued
further, his expression darkened a few shades and he muttered it had to
do with Alex. They changed the subject. The same waitress gave them a
frown before asking Jake how many friends he would be bringing with him
tomorrow. 
The little girl went straight for some muffins and a strawberry
croissant. Jake ordered the Denver omelet again, and Linda settled for a
bowl of granola with yogurt. After their meal was finished and Jake was
paying their bills, Linda told him that she was needed at her office for
the day. 'I'll be by at about seven', she told Jake. He nodded and said
the dinner would be waiting for them by then. 


Jake's House
2 PM Same Day

It was just an experiment to see what would come out of them. Jake towel
dried his wet hair, then headed for his work desks. He switched on his
computer and the virtual reality machine, then checked his computer
scanner again. When all was done, he took out the new three-ring binder
where he placed the girl's additional artwork upon her consent. Every
time Jake checked on her progress and picked up the ones that were done,
she just worked on more. The binders Jake used on the drawings could
hold about seventy-five such plastic pocket sheets, and more than half
of this second binder was already filled up. He carefully took out the
pages containing what he thought were three-dimensional drawings and
placed them in a neat pile next to the computer. 
	When he first asked her what each drawing was supposed to show, she
shrugged and kept her silence. They were sitting down on the floor with
glasses of lemonade set next to them. He was sitting behind her with his
left leg stretched out and his right bent at the knee, so that the girl
could sit in between them. She'd pulled her legs up to her chin, and
stared at the pages of her artwork that Jake spread in front of them on
the floor. The plastic covers reflected the sunlight, making the plastic
edges shine like pieces of crystal.  
	"It's okay if you can't tell me right now. I just think you are a
fabulous artist, and I hope you know how good you are at this. I...
well, when I was little, I used to draw buildings in my notebook pages
and didn't listen to the teachers talking in front of their blackboards.
They soon found my notebook full of the drawings and I got busted for
them. But I stayed on with the habit. All my life. 
"Eventually, people started telling me how good I was at doing those
drawings. I didn't know that they were important back then. I thought,
'what is the big deal? They're just drawings'. But as I grew up, things
changed and so did my ideas." 
With that, he reached for a box of colored wood blocks he usually used
to kill time, or to let his mind zone out. But he treasured them since
they were also proven useful in getting some of his best and the
brightest ideas in the past. He took them out and began stacking them up
one by one. His other hand was still resting on his bent knee. The girl
stared at the blocks, but she didn't reach for them.
	"During my own renaissance period, I began to read things, and I mean,
reading as in really looking at things. Looking at them from every
possible angle that you can think of. Things like the furniture in my
bedroom, staircases, ceilings, and the entire exterior of our house and
the neighbors'. 
"When I was at school, I looked at the school buildings, class rooms,
shapes of desks, and studied about how those things were created and
connected with each other. So, I went to a school where the teachers
taught kids like myself to be able to use these ideas into their own
work." 
Jake pointed at the space where a dozen or so metal model of the
buildings stood reflecting the sunlight. 
"Look." He pointed to the miniature city, making sure that the girl's
eyes followed his. "They all are ideas that grew out of my school
notebook pages. They just got built." He hoped he was making sense to
the girl.
"I was just like you. You have these wonderful ideas flowing out of your
mind, and they are still trapped inside your drawings. I want the world
to know how good you are. I want them to know that you are an artist,
and so much more than what you..." He was stuck, searching for the right
word. "...What others seem to think you are capable of." 
	With that, he reached out to the wood blocks again. They were now
shaped like a tower or a building of some sort. The openings
deliberately created in between each block left the room for sunlight to
crawl through, further enhancing each light and shade. He turned it
around in front of the girl, taking care to do so very slowly, so as not
to break the figure. The lights danced and disappeared with each
movement of the blocks. Jake was still mesmerized by this trick. 
	"It's been over thirty years looking at these blocks, and I never get
bored." Jake stood up and walked over to his computer desk where his
virtual reality machine was set up. "With your permission, I would like
to see some of them in my computer, so I can see them better. But I'll
understand if you don't want me to. Believe me, if someone came into
this house, looked through all my blueprints without asking for my
permission first, I'll be very angry. A lot more than when we first
met." 
	Jake paled instantly, catching his slip. 'Open mouth. Insert foot.' It
took guts to force himself to face her again, but being a good masochist
that he was, he succeeded. He didn't know whether to be relieved or
worried upon noting no change on the girl's expression or complexion. 
"...I dearly apologize for that. But I was really, very scared that I
could have lost you." As he spoke, Jake wondered not for the first time,
if the girl could see through his soul if he just looked at her hard
enough. She said nothing, but she did touch her hand to his arm. Taking
it as a positive sigh, he released a breath he'd been holding, then
headed for his computer. He sat down at his desk chair, and just when he
thought he might be going too far with this VR idea, the girl tugged at
his left shirtsleeve and handed him the large binder. 
	Stunned for a moment but recovering fast, he looked into her eyes. "Are
you sure about this? I mean, if you don't want to do this, I..." The
girl only looked back at him for a moment before walking off to keep
Stella company. He nodded to himself and turned back to the computers.
Just then, he heard his phone ring and he reached for it out of pure
reflex before his mind registered the move. The call was from his
partners. They needed his blueprints right away, and the time was
critical.  
	"What the hell?! I thought we're going on schedule!" He yelled into the
receiver.
	"We were, Jake. Believe me. That is, until they called on an emergency
meeting and told us that they're drawing a new deadline. The new date's
three weeks earlier than our original schedule, and they're expecting us
to finish the job by then."
	"Fuck!!" Jake kicked the chair he'd been sitting in, sending it
crashing to the floor. "Are they nuts?! There's no way we can pull that
off!"
	"I know. We're all on the phone right now, trying to get their story.
I'm calling from my cell because of that. We have no idea just what or
who got fucked up in there, or down here."
	"Call them. Rush everybody into my house immediately. We're holding an
emergency meeting here."
	"There's nothing we can do until we get a hold of them..."
	"We can have a screen-phone conference! I don't give a shit! Gather
everybody in here and get those bastards on the line! I'll personally
chew their ass off."
	"Jake, calm down. We can't lose this deal. We can't get too greedy on
this. We'll just hire more people and do our job. They said 'the pay
off's big'. I know them longer than you do, Jake. They keep their word."
	"Oh, man. I've got a kid to take care of." Jake's voice suddenly
dropped as he looked around for the little girl, but she had gone into
the restroom. He silently wished she hadn't heard or seen his outburst. 
	"So do I!! I've got three kids at home, Jake! I don't give a shit what
you have to do! This is our future we are talking about, and I've been
sacrificing my marriage for it!!" Jake bit on his lower lip, realizing
his selfishness.
	"Okay, okay! All right. It's your turn to calm down now. I'm very sorry
about your family life. Find out how big the 'pay off' will be, and
we'll negotiate to see if we can buy some more time out of them. I think
they're feeding us this crap to scare us. Find their bottom line, then
find our gray areas. All the same routine. Try to find where we can
stand without tripping over one another. All right? I trust you to keep
things under control until I get there. Elly's got a day off, because I
made her put in too many overtime for the past week. I will have to have
Linda watch over her until I return."
	"All right, Jake. How much time do you need?"
	"Give me half an hour. If the traffic isn't bad, I'll be there in
twenty." Jake hang up the phone before hearing another word. This really
was a trouble, but Jake knew at least a part of their clients' reasons.
The girl's story had attracted wrong kinds of attention to the building.
Their clients didn't want to hear any more stories about him and the
little girl getting a brush of sudden death. They wanted to get this
whole construction phase over with to evade further risks to their
business. 
Jake also suspected that maybe a few of their egos were damaged in the
process, but he couldn't take on the dilemma issue, because his firm's
clients were located in France. Jake called Linda on her pager, hoping
she wasn't on the witness stand for the day. He was relieved to see that
the pager wasn't turned off. When she returned his call, he explained
their situation.
	"All the hell's breaking loose at our office, Linda. I don't think I
can get her in there. It's no place for a little girl, believe me. The
room will be filled with cigar smoke, coffee cups, and a dozen or so
extremely frustrated men who are ready to stampede. I gave Elly a day
off, because it's Friday. Apparently, our current clients don't have the
sentence 'take it easy' in their vocabulary." 
	"Jake, I'm a social worker. Not a baby sitter. I'm sorry, but I'm in
the middle of a court session." 
	"What?! You're in court?" When things go wrong, they go wrong all the
way.
	"Yes. I'm an expert witness. I was able to answer your call, because
the judge declared an hour recess and I have fifteen more minutes. I
cannot be with the girl."
	"Oh, my God." Jake didn't hide his disappointment, and Linda didn't
expect him to. 
	"Welcome to the frustrating lifestyle of a legal guardian. ...I'm not
joking, Jake. There'll be more situations just like this one. Even if I
was able to get to you, you're responsible for the little girl, so
you'll have to act like it. You need to be able to drop everything and
place her on the first of all your priorities. Ask yourself, Jake. What
about the next time?" The question stung Jake like a dagger.
	"All right. I'll take her down there with me, and I'll try to get
everything under control as fast as I can. I'll tell my guys to shut the
hell up when they start throwing cherry bombs. I'm sorry, I panicked.
It's just that this probably never happened if no one found out about
you-know-what."
	"Bad publicity, huh?" Her voice indicated it wasn't a question. Jake
narrowed his eyes.
	"How'd you know?" 
	"Everybody's after a throat to cut, Jake."
	"Thanks for the encouragement." He muttered before hanging up. He faced
the little girl who now sat in front of the TV, brushing Stella's fine
fir. He swallowed hard, trying to push down the knot in his throat. He
hated to do this to her again.
	When he finally made it to the office, everybody was stunned at the
arrival of an unexpected guest. 
	"What the hell is this, Jake?! This ain't a Goddamn child care center!"
	"I had no choice. Get on with the meeting, shall we? Please keep
everything under control here, since we have a guest."
	"Who the fuck cares, Jake?! Where're the blueprints? We need to change
strategy if we're going to finish this on time."
	"No, we can't change a thing. They'll notice soon enough. These guys
are pros. They've hired many private firms just like ours before our
name even got to their doorstep. They know where to look." Jake stood
his ground as he put the blueprints in question up on the white board
with magnets. The girl was busy looking around the office and everyone
in it.
	"I have to agree with Jake on that. We'll have a law suit in our hands
if we..."
	"Hey, it's easy for you to say! You're not the one who has to tell
those guys sweating their asses off out there to hurry up, because some
bastards left a little girl up on the top of the damn thing." Jake moved
so fast, no one had the time to stop him. Jake slammed his fist into the
table just in between the careless man's hands, startling them both.
Jake needed to vent his anger some way. This wasn't one of the best
ways, but he couldn't hold it inside any longer.The entire room was
silent until Jake began yelling.
	"You fucking bastard! We're damn lucky I was there and she's alive!
Think about what would have happened if she ended up dead!" A dam broke
as another flood of angry words and kicking of metallic objects started
up in the office. 
However, even in this situation, Jake never missed the girl flinch under
his left hand as it lay on her shoulder. Jake sighed and stared at the
men throwing accusations at each other, including Jake himself. Jake
looked down at the girl who sat in the chair next to him. What he saw
made him flinch, too. Was he seeing her tears? Washed onto the shore by
the waves of shame and stress-induced nausea, he closed his eyes and
abruptly stood from his seat. He couldn't bear to see the little girl
being thrust under fire. Breathing deeply, Jake asked everyone to calm
down. 
"She's not the one to blame. It could have been far worse."
	"Whatever. Let's just think about what we have to do here, all right?
Jake, you made the mess. You clean it up." 
	"Enough!!" Jake shouted, and the room again fell silent. "...Okay. I'll
make the announcement, you guys set up a new schedule by tomorrow noon
at the latest. Start taking names for those willing to work overtime.
Increase our labor-force by twenty-five percent by the end of the week.
Have the personnel office review each application for criminal records.
Conduct interviews five minutes max for each applicant." Jake ignored
the complaints that flew around the room. He was already going out an
extra mile or two for his colleagues, and he intended to make sure that
everybody shared the burden of this crisis. It took them about three
more hours of bruising each other's egos to finally balance out their
workload, so no one had the heart to complain. 
Jake's assigned workload was to conduct the announcement and to talk to
their clients personally to find out just what the hell really happened
up there. This meant  he had to fly to Nice, France. It was no vacation,
since he only had two days including the hours he would spend on both of
his flights. But in the end, Jake's plan of 'letting the guys vent out
and smoothing their feathers' worked just right.  
	"Meeting adjourned. Everybody go wherever you go to when you're
brainstorming. I'll be at my house if any more emergency comes up. We're
professionals, guys. Let's just keep it that way, and show those big
boys in France what we are all about." Jake concluded and picked up his
briefcase. Jake faced the girl who followed after him. "Let's get out of
here, huh?" He whispered, opening the door for her. However, she opted
to exit at the very last; after all the towering men spilled out into
the hall. 
Jake pulled up his car in front of an ice cream place, and asked her if
she wanted something. She climbed out of his car and went inside. Jake
smiled and followed her.
	"I knew you would like ice cream." Jake said as he ordered a scoop of
whatever she pointed out for him to get. Jake got a mint chocolate chip
shake for himself, and scooped up a spoonful of one of the better human
inventions. He smiled as the girl tried to take a much larger bite out
of her strawberry ice cream than her tiny mouth could handle. He quickly
grabbed a paper napkin and wiped her face clean. 
"I am so sorry you had to be there to begin with. But I am even more
sorry for making you listen to us yelling at each other. Believe me when
I say that those kinds of arguments don't happen often. But when it
does, it gets ugly." Jake tried to look for the best way to apologize to
her for his pending absence. But after looking into her 'do tell' look,
he put his spoon down and leaned in closer. 
"I know you heard what I have to do. I have to go to France for two
days. I would love for you to come with me if I could just find a way.
France is a beautiful place to visit." 'Although it's as dangerous as
Washington, D.C..' Jake added silently. "There's a rather large
possibility that you cannot come with me. If that is the case, I'll have
to have you stay with someone else. Elly might be able to watch over you
and stay with you at my house until I return. She has her own family to
take care of, so I'll let her bring them over with her. This is good for
the both sides, since you'll have someone to play with. It's only for
two days and no more. I promise I'll call from wherever I can, and Elly
can set up a speakerphone for us, so I can speak to both of you at once.
You don't have to speak to me if you don't want to."
	Jake watched the girl squish the spoon around in her bowl, her gaze
dropped and her appetite suddenly gone. He reached across the small
table and touched her face, making her look at him. 
	" I hate to use this term on you, but this is something I've got to do
for all of us. ...Hey, there. Don't look so sad, because I'm not going
anywhere you can't reach me. I'm not abandoning you, and I promise I'll
be back. But I need someone to keep Stella company for me. She loves you
very much. I can tell, because she wants to be with you. She sleeps with
you, plays with you, and she wants to protect you from the bad guys. 
"Let me tell you something. Believe it or not, Stella can be a very
powerful ally. Stella's very protective, almost like a mother. She's
also fiercely loyal, like a fellow soldier. She's a hard thinker like a
wise monk. I didn't put her through obedience schools. She never had
police canine training. I never even taught her any tricks. What I
taught her were house rules and the public rules. I take
responsibilities as a pet owner, but I don't baby her that much. 
"It took me a long time to figure out why she was so good to me. I used
to think that there must be something she was trying to hide from me,
until I wised up and realized she behaves the way she does only because
that's the way she is. She'll miss you very much if you come with me to
France. But if you don't come with me, I'll be worried sick about you,
because that's the way I am. Deep down, though, I believe that
everything will be all right; sometime, somehow.
"Also, there is nothing to worry about Elly. She is at the house to cook
us meals, clean the house, then go off to shop for our food, and she's
there to love you. We all want what guarantees the most safety for you,
so you can go home and have your life back." 
Having said what he needed, Jake pulled his hand back. He expected her
to disagree with him. To throw him the 'how dare you' look and gaze out
of the window. But he was completely unprepared for what came next. She
fidgeted, scooped up another spoonful of her vanilla ice cream, which by
now was half-melted and slushy, from its place next to the strawberry
ice cream. He barely noticed the metal spoon being raised, then his eyes
met the girl's sparkling ones fixed on his face.
	"OH!" He exclaimed as the freezing, sweet, and very sticky liquid
splashed all over his face. A little of it stuck in his hair. "Ahh,
damnit! I can't believe you did that!" His words sounded angry, but his
face betrayed the harshness of his words. He searched for the napkin
dispenser, being careful to do so without opening his eyes. 
"Okay, you got your revenge." Jake added as he wiped his face clean, but
it was a waste of his time and effort as he felt another attack of ice
cream on his face. This one hit him right on the nose and dripped over
the table. He got more napkins and wiped it off as quickly as he could.
She finally ceased fire, and Jake finally opened his eyes to see her
giggling. He couldn't help the laughter that escaped his lips. 
"Okay, now you really got your revenge. You win, and I surrender. Ready
to go?" Still smiling, he asked as he fumbled in his trouser pockets for
the car keys. He stood up, throwing out the soaked napkins and leaving a
large tip for the unfortunate waitress who would have to clean up the
mess they've made. Right before opening the passenger door for the girl
to get in, he stopped and faced her again. "I need to know. Will you
forgive me for this? For leaving you?" He was asking her honestly, and
he knew she understood his intentions. She patted him on his hand and
jumped inside as he held the door for her. 
	When they returned, Linda was waiting for them in her car.
	"Hey, how was the court?" Jake asked, getting answered with a 'don't
you dare ask me that again' look. Jake nodded his understanding and
gestured her inside.
	"I'm not here to discuss my day, Jake. The question is, how was your
day? From the way you expressed the situation to me earlier, it must've
been ugly."
	"It was." Jake said as he held the door for the two ladies to walk in. 
	"And? How did you both handle it?"
	"We both went there. Some cussing words flew around and they made her
cry, but we brought the situation down to an okay level."
	"They made her cry?"
	"A couple of guys said something mean to her." He said, shrugging.
	"This is a professional meeting, Jake. I feel like I'm listening to a
teenager describing a food fight in a school cafeteria." 
	"Very close. We had that minutes ago." Jake pointed to the ice cream
splattered on his clothes and in his hair.
	"What?" Linda's exasperated look made Jake turn serious.
	"It's the little girl's way of getting revenge. Look, everything's made
up. Some big company in France hired us originally to build the
skyscraper where we had the near-fatal accident. As we guessed, they
want to keep their names clean and put all this behind them. So they
decided to cut the time allotted to us by three weeks. It's a major set
back, and everything we've been planning to do came crumbling down on
us. I really wished she didn't have to be there, listening to us arguing
with colorful swearing words. Things like this doesn't happen often. We
trust each other."
	"So, what happens?" Linda was straight to the point. Jake raised an
eyebrow.
	"So, now I have a shit load of work to do, though mostly at home. So,
now I have to prepare a bunch of questions to ask our clients within the
next week to find out what the hell is going on and I'll get my chance
to chew their asses off. So, I have to fly to Nice, France for two days
including the time for travel. So, I'll probably lose my sleep for the
next five months until the damn building is done. So, we have to hire
twenty-five percent more workers to speed up everything. So,..."
	"Okay, okay! Stop there. You said you need to go to France?" 
	"Yeah. Is there any way that she can come with me?"
	"What?! Are you nuts?"
	"No. I couldn't help asking. ...For her." Jake moved his eyes toward
the girl's direction. 
	"Oh. ...I'm sorry, but there's just no way that we can..." Linda was
speaking directly at the girl, but she turned away from Linda before
hearing the end of the sentence. Linda sighed and didn't bother with the
rest.
	"I'll call Elly and invite her. She can bring whomever she wants to
stay with in here for as long as she's willing to stay with the girl
until I return. Elly, as you may already know, is a mother herself. This
place is more than enough to fit them all in." Jake's hopeful look alone
was screaming, 'please, please, pleeease?'. Linda noticed Jake was
trying not to look desperate, though his words betrayed his efforts. She
exhaled a large breath and decided to take a pity on them both.
	"Well, under the circumstances..."
	"You can trust her, Linda. I trust her. She's been with me ever since I
bought this place and moved in. She's very much a family member to me.
She didn't quit when Alex's death came down on me and I was left in
pieces. She saw me through more troubles than you can ever imagine."
True to Linda's guess, Jake began promoting Elly.
	"I'll come over every day and check."
	"Fine. Stay here with them if you want."
	"Nope. As much as I love your reclining chair, I can't stay here until
I get done with the case." She said as she reached for her overnight
bag. He gave her a nod of thanks and watched the door close again.
	"Well. Looks like it's just the two of us again. Tell me when you want
to eat dinner, and I'll order-in whatever you want. I'll be in the
shower, which will give you some time to relax. Listen to the radio or
CD, if you want. You could watch TV, if that's what you want. But if you
just want the music, you could leave it on after I get out of the
shower, and I'll read you a book." Jake said as he took off his jacket
and tie, placing them inside the dry-cleaning laundry basket. 
When he came out, she was brushing Stella's hair again. He released a
breath of relief and sat down next to them. Stella's eyes were closed,
enjoying the feeling of the comb going through her fir. He told her he'd
be at the computers working with her drawings, because he never got a
chance to do it before they left. She nodded and kept her hands busy. 
Jake felt guilty more than ever for not being able to spare more time
for this girl; to do what regular people did to their children, like
playing cards, reading stories, teaching chess, playing Monopoly, etc.,
etc. But as Linda repeatedly warned him, he was afraid of getting too
close to this girl. He had to maintain safe distance. Jake winced
visibly as the word 'safe' and 'distance' crossed his mind side by side.
Emotional distance was one issue he still had considerable difficulties
with; even before Alex happened. But as it was usually the case with
Jake, he felt he wasn't yet ready to tackle the issue, and never will
be.
	The five images Jake scanned separately into the computer nearly gave
him a headache. They seemed to have some connection with each other, but
many of the figures in each drawing wouldn't match with the rest.
However, Jake knew just from the first glance that there was a deep
meaning to each figure, each line and each spot that had been displayed
to him. They weren't pointless doodles in any sense. 
He looked for a couple more drawings off of the small pile and scanned
them in, hoping for a solid clue to the solution. Eventually, all the
pages were stored inside the computer and he walked over to the artist
and placed the borrowed pages back in. She looked over to him and
pointed to her abdomen. He smiled.
	"Are you hungry, little Picasso? Good thing, because I'm starving. You
get to pick the restaurant this time. Do you want hot sandwich? Burgers,
chicken club, meatball, or even veggie burgers? No? How about some
Italian pasta, then? Chicken pasta, veggie pasta, cream pesto, even
seafood pasta, or ravioli? No? Okay, how about Mexican food? Taco,
burrito, nacho...? No? Fine. How about Chinese? Egg roles, Kan-Pao
chicken, broccoli beef, steamed rice, stir fry, garlicky beans, veggie
delight...? No? Hmm... understandably, the Princess's being hard to
please this evening. How about pizza?" Finally, he got her hand raised.
"Great. What do you want on it? Pepperoni? No? Mushroom? No? Green bell
peppers? Good..." 
Jake ended up ordering a large deep-pan pizza with green bell peppers,
black olives, Italian sausages, tomatoes, and extra cheese. He was more
than amazed at her digestive system, and hoped her arteries would last
past fifty years. He was still thinking about her artwork when they
heard the doorbell ring, and was met with an exhausted pizza-delivery
guy. 
"Here you go, sir. Twenty-eight minutes, close call." The man had been
caught in traffic, and was very afraid of facing his boss literally
empty-handed. Jake took pity on the guy, because he'd had the job when
he was still a student in Chicago. Jake left the young man a big tip,
making the pizza guy's day. Jake and the girl ate on the floor as they
watched Discovery Channel. Jake told the girl to brush her teeth while
he cleaned up the mess on the floor. 
	He knew she was ready to drop into sleep when he noticed her eyelids
growing heavier every minute. He told her to call it a day and go to
sleep. She changed into her pajamas and went to bed, but not without
getting Stella to sleep with her on the bed. Normally, Jake would refuse
it flat-out, but he gave them his permission, much to Stella's delight.
It was a sort of peace offering from Jake, since he'd made them bear all
the trouble that sprang over them. 
Jake was done preparing the reading materials to be stashed into his
briefcase along with the contract papers. He briefly thought about
finishing what was left of the packing for his trip in the morning, but
soon discarded the idea in favor of getting it over with. 
At around five in the morning, he went over to the virtual reality
machine against better judgement. He hoped that through virtual reality
he'd be able to navigate inside the girl's drawings much more freely. He
had been saving the fun, and he definitely wanted to experience them
before leaving. The images had been scattered, confusing, and somewhat
undefined on paper or computer screen, but he was glad to note that
through the virtual reality, they clearly came into focus. 
First, Jake isolated every image with unusual curves or acute angles
that didn't make sense. He then isolated indefinable shapes into another
corner of the screen. The rest of uncertain figures and colors were
pushed over to another wall. By the time this was done, the images were
turned into a jigsaw puzzle. 
Next, Jake drew a smaller cubicle into the screen and began placing the
odd-angled images carefully inside the small cubicle edges to make them
fit into the folding corners. He did seven drawings in this manner;
taking pain-staking care with each one. By the time he was done, he
cursed his curiosity and wished he hadn't started it in the first place.

'If they are really what I think they are,' he thought with a sick
horror, 'we've got a whole lot more work to be done'. Suddenly, calling
in the FBI became an attractive idea. Jake hastily saved everything
including the two-dimensional versions, and practically threw out his
virtual reality machine. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. 
'Calm down', he told himself over and over. 'Soon it'll be ...What time
is it now?' Realization dawned on him when his eyes caught the bright
sunlight cutting through the blinds.
	"Fuck!" The word escaped his mouth before he could censor it. He bolted
out of the chair and ran toward his closet to get dressed. True to his
guess, the doorbell rang as he was knotting his tie. He punched in the
security code to open the front door, and was greeted within seconds by
two furious men.
	"I'm sorry, guys. Really." Jake apologized, hoping to avoid another
argument. But once the visitors got a good look at Jake's pale face, all
fight left theirs.
	"What happened to you, Jake? You look like the death himself."
	"Nothing. ...I just ended up pulling an all-nighter, trying to write
out our strategy for the big meeting. ...Did you get my ticket?" Jake
dare didn't tell them what really made him nauseous.
	"Got you booked and ready, Jake. Can we have the copy of your new
strategy?" It wasn't really a question, and it was never meant to be.
	"All printed and done." Jake walked over to his work desk and picked up
a thick manila envelope. "For everybody." He added for their benefit. As
the men went about looking through the pages for any loophole, Jake
turned around, and for the first time that morning looked for the little
girl. 
Jake learned she was out of her bed a long time ago, and found her
perched on one of the kitchen stools. She was staring at him, and
probably had been for a while. Somehow, when he smiled, it came out
disfigured; like the bits and pieces of her artwork. Jake wanted nothing
more than to drop to his knees and weep in the face of such degree of
unspoken horror and honesty. He resisted.
	"All right, boys. When am I off?" Leaving now was completely out of
question for Jake, and he wouldn't have moved a foot out of his front
door if he wasn't holding in his hands the future of his partners and
the firm. 
	"Sunday. Bright and early at eight." The man whose marriage collapsed
from overworking muttered as he handed Jake the flight ticket. Jake's
eyes slightly widened at the Concord ticket. His partners really did
take Jake's time constraints problems seriously.
	"Super-sonic flight? Thanks, guys." Jake patted the guy on his
shoulder, putting the ticket on the edge of the kitchen counter.
	"You're due back Tuesday at midnight." The man added with the finality
that said 'don't argue, it's done'. Jake nodded his understanding.
	"They're expecting your arrival by six for a dinner meeting at the
downstairs restaurant of your hotel. I don't know what it's for, so
don't ask. Then, they want you in their office by nine Monday morning."
The second man said as he gave Jake a copy of his schedule. Jake nodded
again in acknowledgement and took it.
	"I'll be there. How are the business at home?" Jake didn't need to add
further explanation for the two men to know what he was referring to.
They shuffled their feet, looking decidedly uncomfortable. Jake resisted
an urge to sigh.
	"They're working on it." 
'Yeah, just what the hell does that mean?' Jake asked silently.
	"Okay, I'll be by at around noon. Good work, guys." Jake concluded as a
gesture of finality, and walked toward the door. The men recognized the
gesture and followed Jake to the door. Having restored some order and
direction for their business, the three men briefly looked at each other
before they nodded and parted. 
Jake felt his knees buckle the moment he locked the door. His body
slumped against the smooth surface of the door before sliding down to
the floor. Stella, who had been sitting at the girl's feet, saw him at
the door and came running. He gathered her large body into his arms and
collapsed fully on the floor with her. She kept whimpering, nuzzling and
licking his face, concern for her master obvious. Jake kept his face
pressed against her neck in the hope that Stella's long fir would
prevent the screams roaring inside his head from getting past the
gigantic knot in his throat. 
Jake was tired. So, very tired. This oddly familiar situation brought
Jake's mind back to an equally familiar, painful one. The last time this
happened to Jake was when he threw Alex's red suede-covered diary across
the hardwood floor after reading her confession. He also knew from the
previous experience that if he stayed in this position any longer, he'd
be yanked back into that darkness. Then, he'd really be in trouble he
couldn't afford.
	"I'm all right, Stella. I'll be fine." He muttered before letting her
go. "Go over to her. We'll go for a walk, and we'll eat breakfast just
like we did yesterday. Then, I'll have to go to work. I promised them
that I'd be there in two hours." 
Alhough Jake had no idea which part of this that Stella understood, she
went over to the girl as she was told and stood guard. The girl changed
into her shorts and a cotton blouse Elly picked out for her. Jake threw
on his suit jacket and grabbed the leather leash for Stella. While
waiting for her to get ready, Jake dropped heavily onto the chair
closest to the front door. 
His stomach began doing somersaults the minute he saw food on other
people's plates, and he ordered two plain toasted bagels with cream
cheese for the morning. The girl, in turn, didn't seem to want anything.
When persisted, she reluctantly pointed to a glass of milk left by
someone on the nearby table, then she pointed to the last bag of granola
inside the display case. Most of the customers who came in were ordering
lunch, but neither of them felt like devouring sandwiches. 
Jake picked up his mail, seeing two envelopes for Red Shoes. He opened
them up as soon as he returned to his seat, instead of waiting until
bedtime to read them as he had been doing ever since the girl came into
his life. The idea here was that if he read the letters and not the
girl's eyes, he wouldn't have to be reminded of the horrible images he
was facing earlier. It was when they left the diner that the girl
finally took his left hand and pulled on it hard.
	"What is it?" Jake asked, his voice soft and controlled. She kept
staring, although it was more like glaring, at him until he saw himself
in her green eyes. Almost instantly, he saw in his mind the girl's
drawings separate themselves into individual images. He closed his eyes
in a vain attempt to shut himself out of the world he never should have
discovered, but closing his eyes actually worsened his predicament. He
opened his eyes again with a painful moan. He was stuck, with no rocks
to hide under. 
Seeing no one else in sight, Jake finally sighed and knelt down in front
of the girl. He first felt her hand underneath his jaw, then felt her
other hand over his cheek, stroking and wiping a few tears Jake failed
to restrain. For a while, he was lost in the strange and comfortable
warmth transcended by her tiny hands. Once feeling fairly relaxed, he
dropped Stella's leash he'd been holding in his left hand, knowing
Stella wouldn't go anywhere she wasn't supposed to. He wrapped the left
arm around the tiny strong girl and drew her close. 
"What have they done to you?" Jake muttered the ultimate question under
his breath. He felt her breathe, her arms now rigid at her sides. "You
know, you really should tell me why you drew them." 
	When he opened his eyes again to look into the green abyss of her eyes,
he knew he would have to get ready for whatever lay ahead of them.
Ditching the girl and flee was never in Jake's choice, and he knew the
girl trusted him. He stood up and patted Stella on her head. Then he
took the girl's hand with his right, being careful not to move it too
much. 
As if they read Jake's mind, a police detective came into the firm's
temporary office at the construction site just as he was mulling over a
list of new employment candidates at a desk. They hadn't noticed at
first, because it wasn't the uniformed officer whom Jake met with on
previous occasions. Jake took their conversation to a secluded corner of
the office, trying not to pay too much attention to the close stares
from the rest of the office's occupants.
	"I have a good news and a bad news." The detective began once he showed
Jake his badge.
	"Fine. Give me the bad one first." It was his habit to prepare for the
worst first.
	"As the officers notified you earlier, the department chief was under a
heavy pressure and was thinking about passing on the case..."
	"To the FBI." Jake wasted no time.
	"Yes. We've been trying every possible avenue within our reach to
search the girl's identity, but it seems this case needs a larger hand.
The good news is, I've explained the situation to the FBI Los Angels
field office, and they're sending someone right away." It was plainly
obvious that the detective was relieved by this news. For Jake, this
meant the case was getting some serious attention. After what he'd seen
in the VR, he couldn't help but feel a bit secure in the knowledge that
they now had the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or what commonly
referred to as 'the fed' or 'the big guns' by the local enforcement, on
their backs. 
	"Just how 'right away' are we talking in here?"
	"As in Monday." Jake winced. 
	"Please make it Wednesday. I'll be out of the country for two days.
I'll be returning on Tuesday at midnight, which is also Wednesday
morning."
	"Sir, this is important." The detective frowned.
	"So as this. If I don't go..." Jake indicated the temporary office and
his colleagues. "These people and all our sweating hard workers outside
will lose their jobs. Then you'll be getting cherry bombs for
Christmas."
	"Where will you be?" The detective sighed, apparently not wanting a
conflict.
	"Nice, France." 
	"All right. I'll tell them, and you better be in by eight Wednesday
morning." The detective warned Jake with his best 'I'll get you' look,
and turned for the door.
	"Wouldn't miss it." Jake called out as the man exited the room. Next,
Jake called Elly to explain their situation. She generously agreed to
house sit and to watch over the girl for him during his pending absence.
Jake was a bit more than surprised to hear that Elly wouldn't be
bringing her family over to his house; opting instead for asking her
neighbors to watch over them. 
"How is she?" Jake asked Elly as casually as he could manage. He decided
to spare all his words for the girl until he got home.
	"She's fine." Elly said. Jake almost laughed when he heard about the
girl bake cookies with Elly; almost, but not quite. When he finally came
home at nine, the whole house smelled of sweet homemade cookies. He
couldn't remember how long it had been since he inhaled the appetizing
aroma. 
	"Welcome home, finally." Elly greeted him as she came over. He hugged
her for thanks, then dumped his briefcase on the wood bench by the
basketball court. He then carried his blueprints over to the sketch desk
and opened the rid of the case.
	"I'm so sorry for being late, Elly. I couldn't get out. I feel
terrible."
	"Well, everybody needs an extra hand or two sometimes. I'll be off if
there's nothing further."
	"You've done enough, Elly. Thank you again." Shedding his jacket and
shoes, he directly walked over to the girl who was sitting on the floor,
perusing one of Jake's Architecture Monthly issues. He also noted the
hairbrush lying on the floor in front of the television set, and figured
Stella got her fir brushed again. Picking up the brush and pulling the
nearby trash basket close, Jake picked the wadded fir out of the
hairbrush.
	"She'll have no hair left by the end of the month, you know." He
laughed as he eased down next to the girl, grabbing a pillow nearby to
rest his head on. Elly brought him a small dish loaded with cookies.
Jake munched on them, laying on his left side and successfully leveling
his eyes with hers. She kept her hands moving on the magazine,
presumably looking for interesting pictures or diagrams, but soon turned
her head to face his. 
"But, thank you. She needs to leave minimum count of hair on your bed.
Besides, she loves you as much as she does anyone, including me." He
kept his voice gentle, trying not to show any sign of exhaustion.
Apparently, he wasn't succeeding. His eyelids were growing heavier every
second. Although his mind was alert and kept demanding him to stay
awake, his body had other ideas. His mind finally gave in for a rest
when he felt the warm touch of the familiar tiny hands stroke his hair.
He didn't even notice when Elly covered him with the blanket from his
bed and left.


Ritz France 
37 Parmanado Des Anglais
Nice, France 06007
9 AM Paris Time

The moment he stepped into the hotel restaurant and faced over a dozen
French men who spoke with thick-accented English, Jake realized how big
a mistake was to come to Nice by himself. His clients stared at him as
if he was a piece of specimen under an electron microscope, ready to be
dissected. His hunch was proven accurate as they each began questioning
him just what happened to him, the girl, and the building.
Jake carefully selected his words, but knew never to screw around with
them. He told them that the girl was fine; that she was in fact living
with him at his house for the time being. Then he told them that the
investigation was still open and active, but refrained from mentioning
the FBI involvement in the case. Jake figured his clients only wanted
their chance to vent steam, and he was their most suitable target. He
let them ask about whatever they wanted, answering what he could. He
needed to prove to them that he and his colleagues were worth their
money. That, they were an honest firm with highly trustworthy people
working as a solid team. 
	When he returned to his room, he immediately picked up the phone and
gave his colleagues the Reader's Digest version of the lovely dinner
meeting. He then called home and was answered by Elly who told him
everything seemed fine but the girl was missing him. She then handed the
phone to Linda, who came to check on the girl. He talked with her about
the FBI's pending arrival, but she already had the information. Jake was
relieved, but he never forgot to ask her how the girl was. 
Linda was a professional, and if something was wrong from her point of
view, he wanted to know. Linda told him that the girl was physically
fine, but Linda needed to know if it was okay for the girl to sleep with
Stella, because the girl never went to bed without the dog. Chuckling,
Jake told her about the little deal they made regarding their sleeping
arrangement. He also told her to get the girl to do as much drawing as
she wanted, because practically that was the only method she had to
express her feelings. Linda scolded at him, saying she never intended to
take the girl's only hobby away from her. He apologized, but he didn't
elaborate on what the girl was trying to draw. It would only give Linda
a heart attack if he told her.
	The next morning after taking a pill-induced sleep, Jake arrived in
their meeting room, located on the third top floor of a majestic
downtown office building. He was five minutes early as he took his
assigned seat. In truth, he planned to arrive much earlier if not for
the cab driver who didn't understand Jake's directions until he wrote
his destination down on a piece of paper. French was once a topic of his
interest in high school, but he never pursued it seriously. 'You just
live wrong.' Jake scolded himself. 
In the meeting, Jake stressed the fact that nothing was delayed or
damaged by the subjected incident over a week ago, and they were still
working right on the original schedule. When they asked if he was saying
that his firm couldn't handle the little 'push-up' in their schedule,
Jake grunted under his breath and handed them each a copy of his firm's
new construction schedules.  
	"As indicated in the reports, we will manage at the rate you ask for.
We can still do the job, gentlemen. What I'm saying, is that these kinds
of changes need to be made on our mutual decision." Jake kept his poker
face to its perfection.
	"If you have problems with meeting our demands, we can simply give the
job to someone else." Jake's stomach did a gorgeous somersault upon
registering those words. He suppressed a gasp and plastered his best
confident smile.         
	"No problems, gentlemen. That's what I came here to tell you. We've
managed to plan everything under your new deadline. No cheating. No
cheap tricks. Let's close the issue and let me hear what you have in
your minds." 'It better be good, you elegant pieces of shit!', Jake
thought. The men weighed their options while looking and whispering to
each other. 
Soon, Jake was excused out of the room, so they could talk behind his
back. All they had to do was speak in French. But they must've known
Jake's previous interest in their language and took no chances. Jake's
nerves would have exploded if he had to wait another minute in silence.
Fortunately, they led him back on time and informed him of a
fifteen-percent increase in pay, plus a contract for a new cruise ship.
Though it wasn't for a skyscraper, Jake took the deal anyway.
	It was a bit flattering when they designated him to do the design. When
Jake asked for their reasons, he was told that one of their partners had
seen another cruise ship Jake designed earlier in his career and
absolutely loved it. Jake figured he could do the design and give the
management job to the others, but they told him his firm was not to be
involved. They wanted the construction phase of the ship to be handled
exclusively by them.
Jake questioned their intentions, because he wondered whether they were
trying to break his firm apart, or trying to fetch him into their firm.
He had to go through a similar situation once, which bought him high
level of recognition and a lot of heartache. He wasn't willing to do it
again. He still had two more contracts to work on, and only one of them
required his presence in the actual construction process. As if reading
his mind, they handed him another project file; this one for a shopping
mall they were to own and build in Los Angels, which, should Jake take
the deal, would be handled by both their firms. Jake visibly relaxed.
	The meeting finally broke in an enthusiastic mood. Problems were
cleared up with solutions, and the promise of 'damage control' was kept.
They invited Jake to a dinner party, and he accepted it without
question. It was a formal gathering and he rented a tux for the
occasion. He was proud of his accomplishments, and he was sure his
colleagues would be, too. 
At the party, Jake was invited by several women to 'keep them company'
after the party, which he turned down by making up excuses. They were
rather mundane ones such as he was afraid of losing the deal he had just
made if this got out; or that he had a flu; or that he was simply too
exhausted. 
Jake's eyes widened when he was told that he 'didn't have to move' if he
didn't want to; that she 'wouldn't care' if he 'fell asleep'. She was
whom he believed was the most persistent woman he'd ever encountered in
his life. He kept warding her off with mild attempts, but she followed
him practically everywhere he went. She got him again while he was
ordering another drink. She was purposely waiting until she caught him
off-guarded. Jake was pressed hard against a wall with a surprising
speed, and barely managed to place his champagne glass on a nearby table
before her hands and lips began invading in his private territories.
Finally deciding 'The hell with this!', Jake fled from the party. 
Thinking of the bizarre sexual encounters written in the women's
letters, Jake didn't want to imagine how this woman was to dish him up
as her dessert. He went straight back to the hotel, walking directly
toward the phone. He called the office and gave them their victory
dance. Next, he called home and reported to them that all was more than
fine; that he would be home with a lot of gifts. He asked Elly if she
was comfortable sleeping at his house, and she replied she was fine. 
Detecting a hint of hesitation in Elly's soft voice, Jake persisted
until she told him the girl seemed to be having nightmares. All happy
thoughts vanished as his mind replayed the images of the drawings. He
really wished the girl could talk to him on the phone and tell him just
what would make her feel better. He realized the stupidity of his
question a moment later, and settled on simply telling the girl over the
phone that he loved her.
	After sneaking in about two hours of shopping time at the airport
before boarding his flight home, Jake checked them in with his suitcase,
because he couldn't carry them inside without using his right arm.
Though the shoulder seemed to be healing faster than it normally did,
the residual pain still bothered him. He knew the drill.                
   'Just five more days.', he told himself. 
Los Angels was a road map of streetlights as the plane prepared for
landing. He didn't know just how to be ready for what was to come. He
only knew he had to be. His car waited for him in the parking lot,
looking rather lonely sitting there all alone. He drove directly to his
house and opened the front door; not forgetting to put down the rubber
stopper to keep the door open, so that he could get all his luggage
inside. Elly hurried over to the door and helped Jake haul in the bags.
	"She went to bed at about ten." Elly reported as she closed the door.
Jake nodded a thanks and sent her back to bed; saying he'd been sleeping
odd hours and there was no way he could go to sleep for the rest of the
night. As Jake instructed, Elly had been using his bed. She was
reluctant at his request of going back to sleep, but she complied at his
insistence. He walked over to the little girl's bed, spotting  Stella
and smiling as her eyes followed his every move. She wagged her tail
when he patted her on her head and caressed her neck.
	"Hey, I'm home. Thanks for keeping her safe for me." He said looking at
the sleeping girl, and kissed them both before heading for a much-needed
shower.



Jake's House
Canoga Park, CA
8 AM, Next Day

The two men who arrived at his doorstep precisely as scheduled couldn't
have said 'FBI' better with their dark suits, conservative ties, guns,
and their official budges. Jake introduced himself and the girl, shaking
hands with the agents. Elly left an hour ago after making their
breakfasts, thus she had the blessing of missing this meeting. 
The girl's instant mood change alarmed Jake. He sensed her reluctance to
stay in the agents' direct line of vision, as well as her lack of facial
expression. It was unlike her to be so wary, but then, who knew what her
kidnappers looked like? They could have been wearing suits and ties just
like these federal agents did; or maybe their height were similar. Jake
explained the agents their situations as the agents took close notes on
the details and told him that the case would be regarded as a case of
child psychological trauma involving PTSD; therefore the Investigative
Support Unit would be making the case assessments. Jake nodded and asked
them what he could do and needed to do. They told him to 'be
supportive', 'be understanding', and to 'be cooperative'. 
They also explained Jake that they needed to take her to a research
center in Costa Mesa, which was recommended by their top specialists; a
group of federal agents who were currently assigned to the FBI
Headquarters who had been trained to handle cases involving children and
emotional traumas. Jake was furious at their refusal to let him
accompany them to the facility, but they promised to bring her home
every night after the sessions, so that she could see him and his dog.
They were federal agents, and Jake knew he didn't have a chance to argue
against their decisions. He waited until then to hand over the binder
for the girl's artwork to the agents. 
	"As you can see, she is at a very advanced level of artistry. I believe
these drawings have hidden clues which you need to get the right leads
in this case." Jake let the agents flip through the pages, but he never
told them about the virtual reality machine nor about the
three-dimensional images he'd witnessed. He didn't want them taking her
to a mental institution, afraid that the girl could have another panic
attack and gets locked up for good. Especially if he was not there for
her to tell her it was safe. However, Jake felt it safe to tell the
agents about the nightmares that the girl reportedly had while he was
away.
	"What kind of nightmares?" They asked, and Jake claimed ignorance,
because he was away at the time; that he'd only learned about them from
his housekeeper over the phone, and of course, the girl wouldn't or
couldn't talk to him. Next, they asked him to go over the events that
took place during the 'rescue attempt' in every detail imaginable. Jake
told them all he could remember, right down to when they left the
hospital. They tape-recorded Jake's every word and watched him so
closely, that Jake felt like a suspect in a federal crime. 
When they finally got done with the interview, they focused their
attention on the girl and began asking her questions; asking her to
respond in any way possible. Jake was aware that they were experts, but
he didn't trust them. It was difficult to draw the line of loyalty. He
didn't know just how much nor what information he revealed to the agents
would be helpful or harmful to the little girl. She needed someone to
trust, and Jake, Stella, and Elly each successfully earned it from her. 
Jake asked the agents to give him a few moments and walked over to the
girl. He knew that she knew they were going to be separated - again;
although not for long. He knelt down in front of her just as he had been
doing since the beginning.
	"All right. You're intelligent, so I know that you understand every
word we just said. They'll give you a few tests; none of which will be
too demanding or dangerous to you. You'll be perfectly safe, even if you
don't feel like you are. At the end of each day, you'll get to come back
here. Stella and I will be waiting for you at the door. I know that
you'll hate to leave Stella here, but this is something you have to do
to find your way home. 
"This is also a home for you, and I'm happy to make it your home. But
first, we need to find the bad guys, so they can't do this to anybody
else. Right now, you are the only person who can help the FBI catch the
bad guys. Forgive me for not being able to come with you, but you're
such a strong girl. You can do it." 
Jake needed her to understand that he wasn't going with her, because he
had no choice other than to stay behind. Her green eyes locked on Jake's
hazel ones for a few moments before she gave in. Releasing the breath he
was holding, he lightly kissed on her forehead and stood up to see her
off.
	"When should I be home?" He asked the agents and was told to be back by
about five p.m. to six p.m.. They gave him the numbers for their
cellular phones in case of emergencies, then left with the girl and her
binder. Next, he called Elly and told her to take the day off, then
explained why he was alone at home with Stella. Having to get the entire
house to himself for the first time in nearly two weeks, he used the
time to concentrate on work. 
Jake kept himself at the work desk until the agents returned with the
very unhappy and exhausted little girl. The agents told him they were
slowed down considerably because of their lack of communication. It
didn't surprise him when she only ate a couple of the remaining cookies
from two days ago before dropping down on her bed and went to sleep. He
took her shoes and coat off before covering her tiny body with the
comforter, motioning for Stella to be quiet when she jumped on her bed.
She wagged her tail in reply, and licked his face as a gesture of
understanding. Jake gave her his thanks with a smile. When the same
agents returned to pick up the girl the very next morning, she refused
to go. 
	"Darling, please. Help them, so they can help you." Jake pleaded as he
tied the laces on her shoes. She could do it by herself, but he wanted
to do it. He hugged her with his left arm and kissed her on her
forehead. "I know you hate to do it, and I hate not knowing what they
are doing with you at the research center. But I cannot go with you. I
would love to, but all I can do is wait here for you. The faster they're
done with you, the earlier you get to come back. I guess that's the deal
they made with you. You'll be fine." He had no idea for just how long
his words would have their desired effects on her. 'She might think I'm
just pushing her off', he thought as the car drove away. He watched
until they were out of sight, and stepped back inside to close the door.
His foot bumped into Stella's ribs, and he heard her yelp.
	"Oh! Sorry, girl. I didn't know you were there." He knelt to stroke her
neck for apology and returned to his workstation. As much as he hated to
admit, his mind was not in work even as he thought otherwise. He did his
work as planned, but he didn't feel as productive as he should've been.
The recent turn of events was taking its toll not only on him and the
girl, but on Stella as well. 'This is incredible.' he thought more than
once. Not even when Alex died, had Stella been so affected by her
absence. Jake's sudden loss of his sense of humor, appetite, and focus
worried his colleagues, saying behind his back that Jake was 'reduced to
a working machine'; to which others replied, 'Oh, yeah. Just like three
years ago.'.
	The next day was the same as before. Jake and Stella saw the girl off,
she returned completely spent, falling asleep immediately after coming
out of a bath. Her appetite was close to zero, and dark circles began
announcing their presence under her eyes. Jake sat beside her on her bed
and buried his face in his left hand while gently stroking her sleeping
form with the recovering right hand. 
All that the agents would say was they were making progress, but Jake
had no means of confirming that. He remembered Elly's comments about the
girl's nightmares. Since he had seen so little of her lately, he decided
to stay up for the night and settled in a chair set next to her bed. It
was a precaution in case he ever fell asleep and she had another
nightmare; even when his bed was only ten feet away. He knew Stella's
presence was very much a help to the girl. He made a mental note to let
the agents at least take Stella with them next time. The next day, Jake
was surprised to see the agents agreeing to take Stella with them.
 	"But the dog stays outside during the sessions." The agent warned, to
which Jake replied 'Fine.'. Jake took Stella aside, explaining over and
over again not to hurt the agents even if she didn't like what they were
doing to the girl or herself. Then, he saw them off. 
	By the fifth day, Jake was ready to rip the agents' look of
professionalism right off of their faces. He could tell that the agents
were also exhausted and had better things to do. When they returned the
girl home, they finally asked Jake to let them in for a little talk. He
led them to the couches by the coffee table where they took their seats.
Jake was relieved to see the girl and Stella playing in the basketball
court. He didn't want to exclude them from the circle, but Jake didn't
yet know what the agents wanted to talk about.
	"What can I do for you?" Jake asked politely. The agents cleared their
throat.
	"I'll be honest with you, Mr. Kathler. She's not responding to the
sessions well. We've made little progress from the drawings you gave us.
They were sent to the Cryptology and behavioral science lab, but we have
next to nothing so far on her identity or the reason why she was at the
top of your building."
	"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Jake's comment dripped with sarcasm.
But realizing it was a mistake he couldn't afford, he quickly added, "So
what are your plans?" The agents looked at each other in silence before
speaking again.
	"There is a department within the FBI which specializes in cases that
reached their dead ends. It's a small department, but the agents
assigned to the department report directly to an Assistant Director.
Their offices are located in FBI Head Quarters building in Washington,
D.C. 
"This department is made of two of FBI's best agents. They've solved
cases where no one had a clue how to start. They're quite used to being
out on the field, and they know what they're doing. They've both been
through hell and back many more times than you can imagine. I would like
to hand over this case to them. I assure you, they've maintained a
success rate of over eighty-five percent, and that's  higher than the
rest of the departments' average score." Jake sighed tiredly. He could
see these guys were tucking their tails in between their legs and
running for cover. Jake shrugged and raised his arms in mock surrender,
already wondering what they were planning to do with the girl next.
	"Okay, you're giving up the case. Can I trust these good agents of
yours?"
	"They're not my agents. Special Agent Fox Mulder is an Oxford trained
psychologist with an excellent service record in Violent Crimes Unit. He
has earned a very high respect among our Behavioral Science Unit. He was
one the best VCU criminal psychological profilers in FBI history; that
is, until he broke away from the FBI mainstream and got into his own
department. You can trust this guy, Mr. Kathler."
	"Sounds really good on paper, but what about the other one?" Jake asked
warily, wondering just what was the Bureau's 'mainstream' but leaving
the question aside.
	"Special Agent Dana Scully is a forensic pathologist. She also has an
impeccable service record as one of the top instructors at the Quantico
Forensic Science department, but she's committed to her current position
as Agent Mulder's junior partner. She does all the department's
autopsies, and she's known for her thoroughness. She is most famous for
the depth of her knowledge in genetics and physics. She is also a
medical doctor, and she's proven herself quite capable in the past.
She's reputed to being extremely competitive, demanding, and
dedicating."
	Jake tried his best to hide his amazement. 'Jesus!', he thought. 'Where
is this case going??' 
	"At this point, it's practically out of our hands." The second agent
officially declared their surrender.
	"Fine." Jake replied and rubbed his chin. "When?" 
	"As soon as I can contact Agent Mulder to set things up, and the
Assistant Director Skinner grants him to investigate this case. ...Agent
Mulder is very quick to respond when it comes to a case of his
interests, and AD Skinner is usually flexible on him. Give him two
days."
	"Sure. Fine." Jake replied as if to throw the words away. But when the
agents began standing up to leave, he stopped them. "Nope. I'm not done
with you two." Looking at their 'What now?' looks, he picked up his
cordless phone. Waving at the girl and her four-legged friend, Jake
motioned for the girl to come close to him. "Hey, what do you want to
eat? We're ordering dinner." 
The agents stared at each other in disbelief, to which Jake added: "I
don't care how busy you are. You're off of this case, so you have at
least some time until tomorrow comes. You gotta tell me more about these
agents. I don't think I want to trust anyone without knowing what to
expect." 
	Jake turned to the girl and gave her the usual menu run-down to see
what she felt like eating. She chose Italian, so Jake gave her the run
down of some of the healthier selections. She held up her hand at
chicken parmesan. The agents watched the unlikely pair with clear looks
of amazement. When that was over, he turned to the agents and asked them
what they wanted. He told them to choose whatever the type of food they
wanted, because he was buying. They both chose Chinese food. Jake
retrieved his phone book and ordered in, then settled back into his
chair with the girl sitting next to him. Soon, Stella joined in at her
side and the three of them stared at the two uncomfortable agents who
shrunk in their seats.
	"Now, tell me. What exactly do they do? Undoubtedly, they're amongst
the FBI's top. Why are they working by themselves? From listening to
their credentials, they deserve a break or two." The agents fidgeted
uncomfortably, and Jake savored the torture he put them through.
	"The department was originally created by J. Edger Hoover himself; to
satisfy the Bureau's wide range of interests, some of which are out of
the organization's mainstream." Here was the magic word again. This
time, Jake didn't miss the opportunity to clear more of his doubts. 
	"What do you call as your 'mainstream'?"
	"Well, departments such as Anti-Terrorism, Violent Crimes, Sci-Crimes,
Foreign Counter-Terrorism, Cryptology, Pathology, Missing Persons...
those popular departments." The agent shrugged again, clearly too spent
to be talkative. Jake nodded. 
"It sounds to me like this mystery department gets to clean up the rest
of the Bureau's mess? Fun." Jake said, already feeling sorry for the
department's two assigned agents. However, his visitors quickly rose to
defend their ego.
"Mr. Kathler, you're way over your head." 
"I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. But you made it sound as if their
department was the Bureau's big dumping ground." Jake waved his hand in
an apology. The agents again shifted in their seats to relax a little. 
"As I said, they work on cases that have been deemed unexplainable or
too complex to be solved by conventional measures. Sometimes they help
with our units in dead-end cases, and sometimes in VCU-related cases.
Agent Mulder is most famous for helping to catch Monte Props in 1983.
You can check it out yourself, because it's unclassified. His thorough
knowledge in cults, especially satanic cults, serial killings, and
various mythologies helped solving crimes which none of us managed to
get out without having nightmares. I still see some of them in my sleep.

"Agent Scully has had her share of scares working with Mulder for five
years. Suspects had kidnapped her twice at her own apartment, and three
times out in the field. But she's like a bulldog. She never lets go
until she has what she wants. She's stubborn as hell, but it takes guts
staying on with her current job. These agents seem to prefer being left
alone, but they do get all the help they need from everywhere including
Sci-Crime Unit. Plus, they have connections all over the US and abroad;
including the US Congress and the New Scotland Yard. The local police
forces often seem to grow fond of them wherever they go out on cases." 
	"Have you worked with these agents before?" His interests already
piqued, Jake carefully controlled his excitement. He had no idea how
these agents looked or behaved. From what he heard, they sounded like
Mr. Steed and Dr. Peel.
	"Once in Los Angels; although Agent Mulder was working there alone."
	"Where was Agent Scully?" Jake could tell he hit a tender spot.
	"Well, she wasn't available." The agent squirmed in his seat. Jake
kneaded  the man's answer, but he soon decided to let it go in favor of
another question.
	"Can I ask you one more thing?" Jake's expression was remarkably and
deliberately innocent.
	"If we can answer." The agent stressed the 'If' part.
	"Why are you looking at me like I'm some alien from outer space?" Jake
saw one of the agents choke on his coffee at his words. Jake narrowed
his eyes.
	"Uhm..., what do you mean?" The other agent recovered faster and asked
him in return. Jake sucked in a quick breath, raising his hand for an
added effect.
	"When I first met you, you stared at me for several long seconds before
asking me if I'm Jake Kathler. You looked like you've seen a ghost or
something right then. This has been nagging at me, but you haven't
stayed long enough to let me ask you the question. I've only been saving
the fun until now." 
	"Nothing, Mr. Kathler. Nothing's wrong." The coffee-stained agent
insisted as he waved his hand in dismissal. 'Like hell there isn't.',
Jake thought. He wasn't about to be thrown into another screwball
situation, just because these guys couldn't do their jobs.
	"Well, we've recognized you and Agent Mulder have a lot in common. I'm
sure you'll get along just fine." Jake furrowed his eyebrows at this
comment.
	"Just what convinces you of that? I'm an architect, and the guy's a
former psycho-hunter. Just how can we be more different?" Jake leaned
back in his chair and crossed his legs. He honestly didn't know if he
should be offended by their comment.
	"I can't really tell you more, because all information is strictly
confidential..." The coffee-stained agent began pulling his final
defense, and Jake sighed.
	"Look, I hate to be nosy here. But at this point, I can't afford to
trust anyone. I maybe paranoid, but something about all this gives me
the creeps." The coffee-stained man made another choking sound while the
other agent gaped at Jake with disbelief. Jake handed his handkerchief
to the choking man and simply asked, "Your timing stinks. Doesn't it?"
The agents now looked rather miserable, wanting to be anywhere but at
where they were now.
	The doorbell rang after a few more nervous chatters went on in between
them. The agents watched as Jake signed the bill and handed them their
dinners. Grateful for the intervention, they mumbled something about
needing to get back to their office. Jake decided he'd tortured them
enough, and released them from his house. They immediately thanked him
and made their swift exit. Jake still couldn't understand the reasons
for their earlier responses, but at least the prospect of being left
alone with the girl for the next two days cheered him. As he turned to
her, he saw her smiling. 



From: "=?iso-2022-jp?B?GyRCJF8kPyRLGyhC?=" <mitani3@beige.ocn.ne.jp>
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 1999 20:12:59 +0900
Subject: Guardians Chapter 1 Disclaimers
Source: direct

Department of the X-Files
Office of Fox Mulder, Special Agent
J. Edger Hoover Building Basement Floor
Washington, D.C.
11 AM Eastern Time Next Day

"Excuse me?!" The man asked as he listened again to the man on the other
end of the line. 
	"Mulder, I'm telling you. This case has your names written all over
it."
	"Just how does that supposed to make us feel?" Fox Mulder muttered,
leaning back in his chair. It squealed with many unanswered complaints,
but it always accommodated him in the end.
	"I don't care about how you feel. This one's got the seal of an X-File
curved into it."
	"We've got other open cases..." He began his 'Don't come crying to me.'
speech, but the man cut him off.
	"Look, Mulder. You know damn well that it's not easy for any of us to
ask for your help." 'Hey, that's true', Mulder thought. The exasperated
agent on the other side of the line exhaled a quick breath to retain his
calm before Mulder hanged up on him. "I'm telling you, man. The guys in
Los Angels are throwing their hands up in the air on this one." The
desperation in the agent's voice bought Mulder's pity.
	"Tell me why I should be so interested in your missing persons case in
Los Angels." Mulder deliberately slowly asked the question, knowing he
was giving himself away. It was one of his habits.
	"There's a Caucasian female, approximately seven years of age. An
architect named Jake Kathler, found her about a couple of weeks ago on
the top of his unfinished building as she was trying to jump. This
building is a skyscraper, and practically impossible for such a small
girl to be climbing up all by herself. Kathler claims he saw the girl
standing at the very edge of a horizontal metal pole, which was sticking
out of the safety railing. Kathler's attempted rescue succeeded, but he
ended up with dislocated left shoulder, a couple of bruised ribs, and a
mild concussion. Kathler drove to a nearby hospital with the girl and
checked her in. When she woke up the next day, she panicked, because she
was seemingly unaware of where she was."
	"The girl's in shock. It's perfectly understandable. Memory loss is
also a pretty common symptom to appear after a trauma; especially in
children." Mulder pondered the situation, carefully concealing his
piqued interest.
	"She recognized Kathler, and has been with him ever since. Kathler
claims she hasn't spoken, written, nor signed a single word. Our guys
already confirmed this. The girl refuses to cooperate unless Kathler's
with her."
	"Go on." When a few moments of silence followed, Mulder persisted.
	"They even tried taking Kathler's dog with the girl, but that didn't
make her talk, either." Something got caught in the corner of Mulder's
mind.
	"Wait a minute. Is she living with him?!" This was something new.
Normally, they would have taken her to a psychiatric hospital, or to a
childcare facility ran by the US Social Services.
	"There's a state social worker named Linda Lowry who's checking out
their situations. So far, she hasn't indicated any serious problem
arising in between Kathler and the girl. The local authority
investigated this case for a week before passing it onto us. Kathler
refused to do any televised interview, nor to release the girl's picture
to the general public except for the newspapers. This hasn't helped the
case one bit, but Kathler's paranoid, and he didn't want the kidnapper
come looking for them. There were no eyewitnesses except for Kathler at
the scene, and no one except the girl can describe her kidnapper. 
"...This girl draws weird pictures, and Kathler presented us with a
binder full of those. They're down in Cryptology and the ISU. We've
found several symbols and some of what looked like human bodies, but
they're all colored and... Hey, you heard enough! It's been our headache
for the past five days, and they haven't been able to bring her out of
her state. Kathler claims that the girl's some kind of a genius, but it
could be just the opposite. Look, Mulder. We have enough cases chasing
serial killers. If you can't find her parents or where she belonged to,
that's fine. All we need from you are a few clues to go after. You're
good at that."
	"I'll take a look at it, but I can't promise that we can investigate
this. Your timing always stinks..." Mulder frowned when the line was
suddenly disconnected.
Regardless of what front he put up, he knew in truth that it was
anything but another missing person's case. He picked up his cellular
phone and called Dana Scully, his long-time partner. 





Margaret Scully's Residence
Baltimore, Maryland
Same Time

"What the hell were you thinking, Mulder?! I told you I would be staying
with my Mom for the rest of the week! Why couldn't you be considerate
enough to at least consult me before saying yes?! " 
Scully barked the moment Mulder briefed her on their new case. Mulder
winced visibly, knowing she wouldn't see how much her words affected
him. It also hurt to realize his own stupidity. To Mulder, what she
could've said: "What, you think I'll just follow you around like a good
servant?! Fuck you, Mulder!" Feeling rather miserable, he broke a pencil
in half and threw them into the trashcan. 
"Don't take this case, Mulder. I can already smell one of your
'paranormal bouquets'." Scully added, perhaps to relieve the tension
that seemed to have settled in the air around each of them, and to give
him an additional warning. Mulder's instincts told him to stick with the
case.
	"I'm sorry, but I get to take the pick of the cases. I have a hunch
this one's got something interesting for the both of us."
	"My hunch says stay away, Mulder." Scully always wondered about that
herself. 'Why don't I get to pick out our cases?' Then, she was always
reminded painfully that Fox Mulder was the designated department head,
because he was the one who revived the damned department from the pit of
the FBI history. 
	"So, arm yourself and meet me down at the airport. Nine sharp, tomorrow
morning."
	"Mulderrr..." She raised her voice a couple of notches with annoyance.
She knew what was coming next.
	"I'm going down there with or without you, Scully. It's okay if you
want to spend time with your family, because you don't do that enough.
Come catch up whenever you feel like it." Mulder never meant these words
as an ultimatum, but that was how they sounded to both him and Scully.
She was silent for a long while.
	"What aren't you telling me, Mulder?" She knew there had to be a whole
lot more than just a girl climbing up to the top of a building. A whole
lot more than a girl who refuses to communicate with anyone except for
her rescuer. A hell of a lot more than just an ordinary missing persons
case. She just knew him too well.
	"I don't wanna spoil the fun for you, Scully. I'll tell you more in
person." 'Mulder and his mind games', she thought. As much as she hated
to admit, she was curious. But just when she thought he was going to
hang up on her, she heard his much gentler voice.
	"The truth is, I do need your help. Scully, it's still fine with me if
you want to spend some more time at your mother's. But I need to have
you helping me at some point; whenever you can make it." 
	What was it about him that made her want to stick around? After all, it
wasn't like he was twisting her arm. She always had a choice of staying
or leaving. She stared at the ceiling and closed her eyes, quietly
damning Mulder and his grin.
	"Scully? ...Scully? Are you there?" Mulder's persistent tone brought
her back. She buried her face in her palm and released a resigned sigh
for her answer. 'What am I getting myself into now?' 
	"Damnit, Mulder." To Mulder, it meant 'Fuck you, Mulder.' 
"Oooh. I love it when you talk dirty." Mulder chuckled, purposely making
her blow up at him. He wasn't disappointed.
"Fuck you, Mulder." This time, Mulder really laughed.
"I deserved that. I owe you a big one, Scully. I'll make it up to you
when I can." Mulder's laughter evaporated the moment he voiced the last
sentence, making him wince by bringing back the promises he'd broken in
the past.
"Yeah. If I had a nickel for every time I heard that one. ...What's the
flight number?" She asked, hastily grabbing a pen and a scratch paper.


Continue to Chapter 1, Part 2...