As the three approached through various halls, Anderson could feel his heart sinking further and further into the depths of his chest. His mind raced down corridors of worry and dread, getting lost in the feeling of nails against his ribs. “Hello? Michael?” Cali’s voice chimed through, and suddenly he was in front of a door.

“Sorry- what?” He blinked, his expression looking much more like a deer in headlights than a person. 

“Jesus, okay, we said don’t be too harsh on her. If she says anything don’t yell, don’t snap at her, none of that.” Cali put it rather bluntly.

“Why would I yell at her?” His tone teetered on the edge of insult.

“Just, do what I say.” Cali exhaled and looked to Margot with a nod. 

As the door opened, Elizabeth was already awake. She sat in a chair by the window, gazing out into the world as it passed by. Anderson could feel the guilt rise to his throat as he watched her. She looked serene, she looked as if for a moment, she was at peace.

“Elizabeth?” Margot called out to her with a soft and careful voice. It was a voice Elizabeth had grown tired of hearing, there was no change, there was no sense of respect in that voice as it treated her of nothing more than a child. “We want you to meet someone.”

She turned her head, staring at the two women she had become well acquainted to. As they filed in, her face paled. She knew who he was the second her eyes met his. She knew what he did, where he did it and when, because when she saw the light eyes full of guilt and tiredess, the fogged memories flooded her mind.

“Do you know who he is?” Cali spoke with a heavy coating of unease.

“You killed my dad.” She pulled her knees to her chest in the chair. She didn’t know whether to run, or to scream all the things she had been holding beneath the layers of hurt and anger. She didn’t know whether to scream, kick and hit him or to stay silent in her pain. Why would they bring him here? Why would they put the two in the same room? 

“I did.” Anderson’s voice wasn’t soft or gentle, it was monotone and direct. It wasn’t walking on eggshells to appease Elizabeth’s mind, even if in reality he was walking around every sliver of shell he could see.

“Why. I mean, I know why, but why.” She wanted to hear it from him. She wanted to hear exactly why things happened the way they did. She wanted to recollect those foggy memories and hold them in her hands. She wanted to claim control of that, she wanted to decide whether everyone had been telling her the truth, and if they should be forgiven.

Anderson sat down in the chair across from her, his eyes gazing out the window as he thought how to put it. How did she want him to put it? He could only imagine how claustrophobic it felt to be held in one room being told the same things. “Because he was a murderer.” He finally said, to the displeasure and cringe of Cali and Margot. “He killed four people, before killing your mother and your brother.” 

Elizabeth’s eyes glazed over with tears. Maybe she didn’t want to accept that, maybe she had hoped it was different. How would it have been different? She knew that it had to have been bad- unspeakable, to leave here in this position. Stuck in a hospital room, with four sterile white walls, and only a window to watch the world as it lived on without her. “Is that why you killed him.” 

Anderson’s eyes shifted and stared at her. His elbows resting on his knees and his hands clasped together, he let out a sigh. “It, wasn’t the goal. However he shot a government agent and another potential victim.”

“How did you do it.” Elizabeth’s voice was calm if not a little tense as waterworks streamed down her cheeks. 

Margot and Cali stood by the door stiff as statues, both giving Anderson looks that intend to direct him away from the words that might come spilling out. He was quiet, the sight of his hands bloodied and bruised flashing behind his eyelids. “With my hands.” His voice was painted thick with guilt, but not remorse. 

“Did he deserve it?” 

“I think that’s enough Michael.” Margot finally stepped in to dismember the conversation before it took any sort of sensitive turn. 

“No, I want to hear him say it. Did he, deserve it. Did my dad deserve to die.” Elizabeth’s voice finally cracked and crumbled into shrill whines.

Anderson’s eyes dropped their gaze to the floor, staring at the white linoleum tiles. “I don’t know.” It was all he could give her. One might say he deserved worse, taking the lives and organs of innocent people and mutilating them into unspeakable things. Then others would say it was a gruesome and undeserved death.

Elizabeth stared at him, taking in the person before her. He didn’t know? How could he not know? Then it dawned on her, the memories. The memory of him and another man frantically putting her before themselves. The memory of Anderson bleeding out as he reassured her, the memory of the world going dark and his voice telling her it was going to be okay. This was that man? He wasn’t anything special, in fact he was rather average. “You don’t know?” She spoke through choked down sobs that threatened her to rise into full.

“I don’t know…” Anderson repeated.

Why was he here? Surely it wasn’t to tell her all of this. Surely there was something else tied behind this meeting. She turned her head to look at the women she had grown tired of. “Why is he here.” She wiped her face. “Why are we doing this.” Her questions sounded more like statements, or pleads.

Margot and Cali looked at each other, how were they going to tell her that he was her last option. How would they tell her that if she doesn’t go with him they can’t guarantee her safety? How were they going to tell her, that they didn’t want to let her go. “He uhm.” Cali scratched her neck. “He offered to take temporary guardianship over you.”

Elizabeth’s expression became furrowed and red. They wanted to place her with, what was in her eyes, the reason she was here in the first place. “Are you fucking kidding me?” She stood up.

“If you don’t go with him, there is no guaranteeing your safety. We can’t guarantee that you won't be targeted by tabloids the second you leave this hospital.” Margot chimed in.

“And you can guarantee that by making me go with him?!” Elizabeth scoffed and found herself with wet eyes once again.

“He’s our only option. He wasn’t our first.” Margot’s voice cracked into the same sternness that made Anderson crumble and curl in on himself in his seat as he rest his head in his hands.