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couldn't fully express what rules had been violated. Taking five hundred dollars to school was irresponsible, sure, but it was unprecedented. Plus, Cammy took money to school all the time, for lunch or buying supplies, so
it's not Jennifer could outright forbid it. Maybe punishment wasn't
warranted, but this felt like a teachable moment.
It would have been except for two events. First, their order was delivered, which caused Cammy to put away her toucan and start devouring
fries. Second, Jennifer's phone began to ring. She knew from the ringtone
it was work.
"Hello?" Jennifer answered.
"Oh, Jennifer, it's terrible," Heathrow started speaking immediately, obviously upset, "The owners of the manuscript are demanding we return it immediately."
"What? Why?" Jennifer asked. Her voice was elevated enough that Cammy looked over at her. Jennifer waved at her to say it wasn't anything major.
"A caretaker showed up out of nowhere," Heathrow explained. He sounded
a little calmer now. "She wanted to see our security, so I showed it to her. Now she's claiming it's not enough, and she wants to take it back."
Jennifer scowled. "That doesn't make sense," she grumbled, "the
security system is the one in the agreement they signed."
"The agreement with the immediate return clause," Heathrow reminded her.
"Any chance they can wait until tomorrow?"
"I don't think so," Heathrow whispered. "If she doesn't get it back in the next hour, she's threatening to call the owners of other exhibits. This
is serious."
Jennifer closed her eyes and counted to five. "Okay, tell her I'm on
the way, but it's going to be half an hour before I can get back."
"I'll do what I can," Heathrow promised and hung up.
Cammy was chewing on fries when Jennifer hung up, and didn't wait to swallow before asking, "Whuhs wrung?"
"Kind of an emergency at work," Jennifer explained. She was already sliding off the stool and fishing for bills in her wallet to settle the
check. "Sorry about the detour, but I need you to ride with me back to the museum."
"Sure!" Cammy replied, "It's cool when it's closed." Another blessing- slash-curse of Jennifer's single parent lifestyle: Cammy had spent more than
a few evenings in an empty museum while Jennifer set up, took down, or
adjusted exhibits. "Can I look at the trains?"
"We'll see," was Jennifer's answer. She dropped several bills on the counter, enough for the shakes, fries, and tip. Thankfully the shakes were already in to-go cups, she grabbed hers. Then, on a whim, she took a handful of fries out of Cammy's basket. There weren't many left. "Ready to go?"
Cammy tugged on an imaginary whistle and said, "Choo-choo!" Then she was off the stool and headed for the door. Jennifer could only shake her head.
As they reached the car, Cammy stopped just before opening her door. "Should we tell dad?"

* * * *

The Wi-Fi modem offended Cameron and filled him with a sense of anger he didn't think a basic home appliance was capable of doing.
First and foremost, it was a bad design. Sure, you could cram a modem, router, and wireless transceiver together into one machine, but then it
became a single point of failure for your entire network. He would have at least made each individual function a separate module for easier debugging. Picking the equipment had not been his choice.
That led to the second problem, he was over ten years behind the curve
of basic home networking. Jennifer was giving him lessons on hardware, software, security, and workflows. He felt guilty feeling bad about that,
and he felt bad for feeling guilty. It was his job to keep their tech
running, and right now he was playing catch up.
Which was a problem of such magnitude, Cameron was sure he didn't even understand every facet of it...and couldn't begin to until he solved the
first two problems. Before his time in The Cave, Doctor Developer was a moderately respected and respectably feared name in the world of supers. Cameron was egoistical about it, but he appreciated that it afforded him certain privileges. It provided some security against minor threats, trepidation for major ones, and provided access to solutions when required.
Right now the entirety of his resources included what was in the garage and what he could purchase at Hank's. That was it. Without access to his
old, confiscated equipment he was starting over again. The external threats
to him and his family were not.
He had a lot of ground to cover before he would feel comfortable, and
the Wi-Fi modem reminded him of this every time he put a password in one of
his phones.
Cameron pushed the negative thoughts as far aside as he could as he explored the smartphone in his hand. The manuals that came with the devices were helpful getting it setup, and thankfully he had the foresight to buy a couple of gift cards from Hank's, which let him activate the service. The first step in getting back up to speed was behind him. He had anonymous network access, of a sort.
It was slow going. Navigating the web on a small screen was a vastly different experience than Cameron remembered. He missed his custom browsers, spidering agents, and a decent keyboard. Those would come. Now he was just happy to find how to sideload various free apps available from a few sites Cammy showed him.
They were basic apps. Many of them were just starter projects by students. Individually they weren't useful, but in carefully curated aggregation, they held potential. One app that took pictures when the camera detected motion, another that emailed those pictures, and a good hiding spot were enough that Cameron had primitive security cameras watching the front
and back doors.
It was a start.
He was using his remaining phone, digging through the list of apps, when the browser was replaced by a picture of Jennifer. It was from the night he set up his phone. She was posing for him, sticking out her tongue to the amusement of an off-camera Cammy. Once it was taken, she insisted on showing him how to add it to his contact list. Cammy's picture was her stuffed tube cat.
Cameron tapped the green answer icon, and held the phone up to his ear. "Hello," he said.
"Hey, Cameron," Jennifer said. The audio wasn't the best, but he could make out what she was saying well enough. "Got a bit of bad news, well, not good anyway."
"Are you and Cammy okay?" he asked.
"We're fine," Jennifer said, "in fact she's with me now. I just got a call from work, and we're heading back to the museum. Not really a big deal, hopefully I can smooth things over." She paused. "Anyway, we will be late. Are you okay?"
Cameron thought about the Wi-Fi modem and did his best to lie. "Yes.
I'm figuring out this phone."
Jennifer's voice lightened. "Oh, great, now I have two screen addicts living with me."
Cammy said something, but Cameron couldn't make it out. It sounded
like, "Lure dictated blue." Teenage vernacular was confusing at times.
"We'll be home as soon as we can. If you can wait, I'll bring dinner
home with us. I'll call when we head back, okay?"
Cameron's phone made a noise. The noise he configured to alert him to emails. Only one person knew his email address, and that was him. "That sounds good," Cameron told her. "I love you."
"Love you too, Deedee," Jennifer replied in earnest. "See you soon."
As soon as he hung up, Cameron switched apps and brought up his email client. One new email from a minute in the past. He opened it up. The
email contained a picture of the front door. It showed two big men walking past it, as if they were going around back.
His phone made another noise, which meant they were at the back door.
Cameron reached over to the shelf next to his work bench, and pulled out the remains of his toy drone. He didn't correct Jennifer's assumption that
he wanted a toy robot to play with, because it was largely true he wanted a robot again. However, the drone was for something else less benevolent.
Until he could acquire something better, the drone's lithium battery,
four large capacitors connected to he motors, and parts of its body were the basic ingredients he needed for a homebrewed taser. Uninvited guests seemed
as good a time as any to test it out.

* * * *

Cammy pulled her jacket off and stuffed it under the front seat. It wasn't cold enough to warrant wearing it, and she really didn't want to risk losing her toucan in the museum. She already felt her mom was cooking up a lecture about buying plushies at school. The last thing she needed on top of that was a lecture on personal responsibilities because she lost her toucan.
"Ready?" her mom asked. She was already out of the car.
"Yep!" Cammy answered. She slammed the door shut, and followed Jennifer into the employee entrance at the back of the museum. That entrance was a
bit disappointing, as it didn't pass any exhibits. She could slip away and look at the train display once the adults were...doing whatever they needed
to do.
Her mom said it was an emergency, but Cammy didn't see a fire. There
were no alarms going off. She couldn't imagine what kind of emergency situation would let a kid on the scene.
Soon they were in the hallway in front of Jennifer's office. Waiting
for them was Heathrow and a woman Cammy didn't know. This emergency really
was turning out to be a dud if the people involved could just wait around for Jennifer. Cammy mentally shrugged, because the less urgent this was the
sooner they could get to the exhibits.
"Hello," Jennifer greeted the unknown woman in as pleasant a voice as possible, "I apologize for the delay. I was picking my daughter up from school, and we had to drive back to the city." Heathrow and the woman shared
a significant look that Cammy assumed was adult stuff. Jennifer slowed her pace just a bit.
"Heathrow, I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage," Jennifer
continued, "I'm afraid I don't know you, Miss..."
"My name is not important," the woman snapped. "I am here to retrieve
the manuscript for my employers." The woman gave off a better-than-you vibe that Cammy didn't appreciate. She could at least be polite.
"Certainly," Jennifer nodded. "Cammy, why don't you go check out the train display. This shouldn't take too long."
Cammy nodded. "Cool!" She turned to make her way to the museum floor,
but Heathrow called out.
"Cameryn, why don't I come with you?" he asked rhetorically. Cammy was about to brush him off, but he'd already started toward her. "The doors may
be locked."
"Really?" Cammy asked. This wasn't her first rodeo. There'd been a few nights where her mom let her sit out on the museum floor while she did research. She'd never had trouble going from the offices to the floor. The locks only needed a badge on the way back.
"Really?" Jennifer echoed. She was about to question Heathrow when the situation shifted very quickly toward what Cammy expected an emergency to be like. Heathrow lunged forward, and grabbed Cammy's arm. He used his
momentum to slip behind her, pulling the grabbed arm behind her and then
using his free hand to restrain her other arm.
"Hey...ow!" Cammy cried, more in surprise than pain.
"Heathrow!" Jennifer snarled. She clenched her fists, and began
crouching so she could launch herself. Before she could complete her crouch, the woman reached an arm around Jennifer's throat and pressed a...
"Mom!" Cammy shrieked.
"Relax, Mrs. McKay," the woman purred, "there's no reason you or your daughter need to be hurt. Just help us get the manuscript, and you can both live through the night."
"Heathrow," Jennifer growled, "I swear..."
"Your histrionics are unwise and unneeded, Jennifer," Heathrow sniffed.
He directed his gaze down at Cammy. "Let's not make this any more traumatic than it already is."

* * * *

Cameron was disappointed as the last roll of tape peeled off the
cardboard spool. His plans for it were much more amorous. Unfortunately
when two burly men break into your house, one does as one must. In this case it was wrapping their hands into useless balls to prevent any chance of
picking at the knots used to tie hogtie them.
Surprise and a taser were on his side this time. He wasn't going to
leave any chance for next time.
"You are a dead man," the first goon spat. He was a goon. Cameron may have been out of the loop for over a decade, but he knew hired muscle when he was threatened by them.
"Why are you here?" Cameron asked.
The awakened goon snorted. "I want a lawyer."
"You're making two mistakes," Cameron explained. He walked away from
the goons, toward where he thought Jennifer kept the Christmas ornaments. "First, I'm not an officer of the law." Cameron opened the box labeled "Ornaments" and rummaged through it. "Second, there will be no police involved."
The second goon was waking up. "Hey, Harv, suburban dad is trying to be gangsta."
Harv moaned, "What happened?" He shifted in his bonds. "Where are we?"
"Looks like the kid was with her mom," the first goon told his partner. "Didn't know mommy was shacked up."
Cameron walked back over to his prisoners. In his hands were several small ornaments. Stars and candy canes made from fired porcelain. "So you were after my family?"
"I want my lawyer," the first goon repeated. He spit at Cameron.
"I will, ah, ask one more time," Cameron said as patiently as he could.
"Or, uh, uh, uh, what?" Harv asked, joining in the taunting. "You going to torture us?" Both goons laughed.
"Torture is ineffective," Cameron said. He was looking at the ornaments in his hands. Once he identified one just the right size, he showed it to
the two. He pointed at the first goon. "What I'm going to do is put this in your mouth, kick your jaw shut, and then Harv and I are going to watch and
see if you die from choking on your own blood or, ah, bleed out from your tongue."
Just as the goon opened his mouth to speak, "What," Cameron shoved the ornament in. He covered the man's mouth with his hand, which was relatively safe since the goon couldn't bite down.
"You can't do this?" Harv screamed. "I want my lawyer!"
"Why do you both keep saying that?" He grabbed the first goon's hair to steady his head. "Do I look like a cop?" he asked. "Do you two not
recognize me?" He started applying pressure to the bottom of the first
goon's chin.
"I don't know you from crap!" Harv yelled. "You're crazy!"
Cameron laughed. "I'm not crazy, I'm super-villain." Both goons froze. "I've been away for, ah, a while. I thought maybe I could just enjoy my
family for a while. I wanted to just live with them." He started squeezing again. "But you won't tell me why you're here, why you came here, or where they are."
"They're at the museum! We were supposed to get the girl and bring her there, but she ain't here. It was just you, man." Harv gasped for air after blurting out his explanation.
"Science and Industry?" Cameron asked. He removed his hand from the unnamed goon's mouth, and the man used the opportunity to spit out the ornament. At that point, he was in a much more cooperative mood.
"We're supposed to meet them in an alley once we're done." he offered.
Cameron walked around the men, stopping behind the unnamed goon's back. "I, uh, guess I need to go to the museum," Cameron said, "but leaving you two in this state is problematic."
"Just let us go," Harv begged.
"No, I mean there's at least two ways you can get free even with your fingers bound." He found a couple of rags, and used them to gag the men, preventing any chance for them to pick at knots or tape with their teeth.
"Now there's just one." With no warning, Cameron raised his booted foot and slammed it down on the unnamed goon's hands. The goon screamed into his gag
as his finger bones splintered, ensuring even if he wore through the tape he wouldn't be able to use them. Harv was already unconscious when Cameron
broke his.

* * * *

"About damn time," the woman cursed. She turned back to Heathrow.
"Harv and Denny just replied to my text. They're coming back now. We should have taken separate cars."
Heathrow looked up from the manuscript he was reading through. "I don't trust those two not to lead the authorities to our safehouse. Besides, we're ahead of schedule thanks to Jennifer." As an afterthought, he asked, "Were there complications, aside from wasting a trip out to suburbia?"
"They said no one was home."
Jennifer and Cammy shared a significant look, and Jennifer put a finger
to her lips. Cammy nodded and buried her head against Jennifer's arm.
Thus far their captivity was going as well as it could. Once Jennifer applied her thumbprint and passcode to the safe so Heathrow could extract the ancient text, she and Cammy were sat down against a far wall. The woman produced several stainless steel cable ties, which she used to hobble
Jennifer and Cammy.
Jennifer tested the ties once applied. Given time, she might be able to break them without her belt, but they weren't given an opportunity. She and Cammy stayed huddled together, staying quiet for the most part.
"They're in the alley," the woman reported. She made an impatient noise and continued, "They need to be let back in." The woman looked at Heathrow, then to Jennifer and Cammy.
Heathrow seemed to read her mind. "Take the girl. Jennifer does a good job of hiding it, but she is stronger than she looks. I, unfortunately, am a rather dainty soul."
The woman walked over to Cammy, and grabbed her by the shoulder. "Get up," she ordered. She pulled hard.
Cammy let out a plaintive cry, and despite every instinct, Jennifer let her daughter slide out of her arms. She wasn't sure what the woman's deal
was, but Jennifer got the impression dislocating a teenager's shoulder didn't crack the top one hundred worst things she'd done.
"It's okay, Cammy," Jennifer said as calmly, but loudly, as she could.
"Do what she says. She's just going downstairs to let her friends in."
"No! I don't want to leave you."
The woman stood Cammy up, and knelt down behind her. One hand she kept
on the back of Cammy's neck. The other she used to clip the steel ties
around her ankles. The woman showed Cammy the clippers. "You piss me off,
and these will cut through your fingers just as easily."
Cammy nodded.
"Good, now walk." The woman backed away from Jennifer, turned, and
drove Cammy out the door.
When the office door swung shut, Heathrow spoke. He turned away from reading to give Jennifer a look that was meant to be apologetic. "It should
go without saying, if I have a hair out of place when they come back, your daughter will pay the price for your actions."
"When they get back, I'm going to find out just how dainty you are," Jennifer swore.
"I have always admired your spirit, Jennifer," Heathrow chuckled. He shook his head and went back to the manuscript.

* * * *

The woman's grip on Cammy's neck never eased up. Due to how much longer her strides were than Cammy's, the younger of the two stumbled a couple of times as they made their way to the fire exit. Those stumbles only caused
the firm grip to tighten.
"You're hurting me," Cammy squeaked.
"Then walk faster," was all the woman said.
Mercifully she released Cammy with a shove as they turned the last
corner and saw the fire escape. "Push the door open," the woman ordered.
Cammy looked back at her for a moment, and then went to the door.
"It'll set off the alarm."
"Do it!"
Cammy swallowed and pushed. She hoped there might be a chance she could slip out and go get help. The door wouldn't move. Cammy pressed harder, leaning into it with all her weight. She eventually gave up. "It won't
open."
"I am not in the mood for this," the woman stalked forward.
Cammy backed up as far as she could into the corner of the exit. "I promise. It won't open."
The woman pushed on the door. It didn't move. "Move back," she
demanded, swiping her arm.
Cammy immediately obliged. She backed away, moving back past the
corner. She considered making a break for it while the woman fought with the door, but...there was no point. She would just get caught. Then a movement caught her eyes. A gloved hand and a black leather sleeve waved to her from around the corner. A head poked around the corner, and the arm waved her to come to it.
She ran as fast as she could toward her dad. She was halfway to him
when the woman registered the movement. "You little brat!" She forgot the
door and gave chase.
She rounded the corner just in time to see Cammy disappear around
another turn. The woman smirked. That was a straight hallway with stairs at the end, she'd catch the girl easily.
Just as the woman turned the corner, her world exploded into a ball of heat and light. It knocked her back against the wall, denting the drywall.
Her head lolled to one side, and she followed it all the way down to the
floor.

* * * *

A muffled rumble echoed through the office where Jennifer and Heathrow waited. Heathrow looked up. "What was that?" When he turned back to
Jennifer, he was unsettled to see her smiling.

* * * *

"Did you build a bomb?" Cammy asked more loudly than Cameron would have liked. He didn't have a chance to give her earplugs, so it was justified loudness.
"A shaped concussive blast," Cameron explained. You could do amazing things with a metal waste basket, a few cans of compressed air, and an extension cord.
He moved quickly to the woman and rifled through her jacket. A gun, a knife, and a half dozen steel ties were all he found. The gun was first,
clip and round removed. Then it went in his pocket with the knife. The ties went around the woman's wrists and ankles.
"Don't forget this," Cammy told him. She pulled the snippers from the woman's boot.
"Good eye," Cameron praised. "Hang onto those. Now, where's your mom?"
Cammy pointed down the hall. "I can show you," she offered, then
stopped, "What about her friends? She said Denny and Harv were coming back."
"They're outside...in the, uh, trunk of their car...parked in front of
the door," Cameron explained.
Cammy's eyes widened as several facts became apparent. Her dad knew how to build a bomb. Her dad took out three really bad guys. Her dad parked a
car in front of a firedoor. Then one question popped in her mind. "How did you get in?"
"Your, ah, mom used to bring me to these, uh, fundraising events,"
Cameron explained. "They were boring..."
"Still are," Cammy interjected. She knew those events.
"I spent the time planning how to break in," he answered. "Never
thought I'd actually get to do it."
It started to sink in for Cammy that Cameron might have been in such a high security prison for a good reason.

* * * *

Someone started banging on the office door.
"Mom! Mom!" Cammy's muffled cries were joined by the handle rattling. "Please, let me in!" The door required a keycard to open from the outside. "Mr. Heathrow. Please!"
Heathrow moved toward the door. He looked perturbed and confused.
"Don't try anything," he warned Jennifer. "I may be dainty, but that's still your kid." The threat was simple and effective. Jennifer glared at him, but remained still.
Cammy called one more time as Heathrow yanked open the door. As
expected, Jennifer's kid was standing just outside. Heathrow expected to see her looking up at him. Insead, she was staring to the side. Heathrow turned to see what she was looking at just in time to see a fist slam into his
face.
Pain exploded through his face. He staggered back. Then something collided with his sternum, and breathing became painful. He continued to stagger back into Jennifer's office, until he felt two arms wrap around him. One around his throat, the other pinning his left arm to his side.
"Do you like breathing, Heathrow?" Jennifer asked. Heathrow tried to talk, but his diaphragm was still seizing. He coughed and tried to nod.
"Then I suggest you lie on the floor, face down, and enjoy every breath."
Jennifer's grip vanished, and Heathrow bolted toward the door. Cammy
was still there, and if he could grab her, there was a chance. With Jennifer still hobbled, she couldn't give chase. His only obstacle was whoever hit
him the first time.
He would be ready.
He wasn't ready.
Heathrow's arm was extended, ready to grab his hostage, so it was the first of him out the door. No sooner was his wrist past the threshold than someone grabbed it. There was a yanking, and Heathrow's angle shifted. He
was no longer running at Cammy. He was stumbling past her, being pushed forward, right into the wall.
"Holy shit!" Cammy exclaimed as Heathrow's body collapsed into a heap on the ground. "I think you killed him, dad."
Cameron used his foot to roll Heathrow onto his side. He could see the man's chest moving. "He'll live." Cameron looked at Cammy. "Always do what your mother says," he said, trying to use Heathrow's uncooperative choice as
a learning experience.
Cammy stared back, eyes wide.
"Can I get a little help?" Jennifer called. She was shuffling toward
the door. "It's been a while since I had to bunnyhop. I'm out of practice."
Cammy looked down to her pockets for the snippers. She missed Cameron's face turning beet red. Snippers found, Cammy ran over to cut the steel
bands. It took Jennifer's help, but they were able to free her ankles.
Jennifer hugged Cammy tightly. "I'm so glad you're safe, kiddo." After another moment of squeezing Cammy, Jennifer eased up. She leaned back and
was a bit unnerved to see Cammy's eyes twinkling.
"Dad knows how to build bombs," Cammy told her mother.
Jennifer looked up at Cameron. He shrugged. "It was a shaped
concussive blast."

* * * *

The tears started halfway home.
It didn't take long for the police to get to the museum once an alarm
was triggered. Rounding up Heathrow and his cronies took a little longer. Along the way they found a couple of guards who'd been locked in a storage closet. Between their statements, Jennifer and Cammy's statements, and two babbling goons found in a trunk, the story of what happened quickly came together.
Once the perpetrators were read their rights and taken away, Cameron showed up at the edge of the police tape asking about his family. This was
all the opening Jennifer needed to excuse herself and Cammy. She took a detective's business card with a promise to return for a lineup the next day.
As the drive home began, Cameron in the back of Jennifer's sedan, Cammy was virtually levitating with excitement. She wanted to know how Cameron
took out the goons, how he snuck into the museum then back out, and dozens of other questions. It finally came down to one.
"Were we in any real danger?" she asked.
"No way," Jennifer demurred.
"Definitely," Cameron said plainly.
"Cameron!" Jennifer hissed.
"We were?" Cammy asked, her voice very deflated. Her eyes tearing up.
Jennifer didn't take her eyes off the road. "You want to handle this
one, Cameron?"
He didn't really, but he couldn't stop himself. "You were outnumbered, and they were armed. That's a, uh, dangerous situation." He knew he'd
messed up. "The important thing is you lived. That's all that counts in the end."
Cammy held most of the tears back until they got home, but it took more than an hour of Jennifer talking to her, letting her weep, and promising to always keep her safe before Cammy finally drifted off to sleep. Jennifer was still sitting on the edge of Cammy's bed, holding one hand and stroking her hair with the other as she did. It was anyone's guess how long she would sleep.

* * * *

"I screwed up," Cameron said as Jennifer stepped into the kitchen. His voice was quiet, but Jennifer couldn't tell if he was worried about waking Cammy or ashamed. Maybe both.
She didn't immediately reply. Instead she worked on fixing a coffee for herself. It would give her time to think. Part of her wanted to slap
Cameron, but she knew that wasn't fair. Aside from being a terrible,
terrible liar, he didn't have years of experience to know how easy Cammy's adrenaline highs could crash. Cammy was going to have to process what
happened eventually no matter what broke the dam.
When her coffee cup was full she picked it up and sat across from
Cameron at the kitchen table. A bit of self-reflection, and she found
herself thinking that she had a lot to process as well.
Then she started talking.
"I was angry at you for a long time." Jennifer looked at the coffee mug on the table. She stirred it several times, the spoon clinking against the edge. Once she was sure it couldn't get any more stirred, she looked back at Cameron. "It felt like you'd abandoned me, us, but mostly me.
"It wasn't until after Cammy was born that I understood," she paused,
"At least I accepted it. When you went out to get the refrigerator that
night, how many schemes did you think of? How many escape plans did you come up with?"
Cameron's voice was flat. "About ten."
"How many of those did you dismiss because it put me or Cammy at risk,
or because you knew I didn't want to live in Khadam, or some reason?"
"All of them."
"Every day during the trial, every day before Cammy was born, I lied to myself," Jennifer said. "I said that I didn't have to be Lady Lawful. I
could manage hiding out in Khadam. Then I'd think, 'But I won't have to.'" Jennifer paused. She reached out across the table, and Cameron reciprocated. "It wasn't until a nurse put a slimy, squealing, squirming baby in my arms
that I ever thought, 'I don't want to be Lady Lawful.'"
"Then I understood. You didn't abandon us, you gave up being Doctor Developer for us." She looked at the table. "Then tonight happened, and I'm back to not knowing how to feel. I love that you saved Cammy, I'm a bit
angry she knows you can build bombs, and I'm scared that one of those two things is going to land you back in jail.
"I just got you back," Jennifer said. "I don't want to lose you again."
Cameron looked down at the table. "I'm mad at myself," he said. He searched for the right words. "In prison, I think I gave up on being a part
of yours and Cammy's, uh, family. I accepted that. It hurt, but she had
you. You're more than enough. Then I met her, and I knew nothing I ever did would be enough.
"When I heard you two were in trouble," Cameron paused. He pulled his hands from Jennifer's, and leaned back in his chair. "I didn't even try to find *you*, all I could think about was making sure *she* was safe." Cameron looked spent, and Jennifer suspected he was.
"For someone who has absolutely no skill with speaking to teenage
girls," Jennifer smiled, "you're a pretty smooth operator getting the mother
of a teenage girl on your side."
Cameron looked confused. "You, uh, lost me."
Jennifer smiled and stood up. She stepped over to Cameron, and through
a bit of squeezing and sliding the table, she sat down in his lap. "You just

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