FATE

95. Hailee's Wrath

"Hi", I say.

She doesn't move, almost like she's in shock. I don't know what I'm supposed to do next. Do I reach forward to hug her? Will she reject me?

Her palms wrap themselves around the arms of the chair, gripping them tightly. Then in a quick instant, she pushes herself up and lunges at me.

"What the fuck are you-" before I can finish my sentence, she places her arms around my neck and I hold on to her.

I wrap my hands around her waist and she buries her face in my neck.

"You're here", she sobs softly, "you're here"

It's the response I hoped for. Somewhere amid all my imagined possibilities of rejection from Hailee, this is the reaction I hoped for. The one where she cries because she missed me. It feels so good.

I hug her tighter, still holding her up, " I'm here", I say as I move into the house, using my leg to shut the door behind me.

She doesn't say anything for a while. She just sobs and I rub her hair gently. When I want to drop her in the wheelchair, she doesn't let go of me, like she's scared I'll disappear again so I walk to the living room instead.

"Hailee, you shouldn't have pushed yourself off the chair like that", I say when I notice her sobs are reducing, "that's dangerous"

"Where did you go to? Why did you leave me?", she asks as I place her on the couch. I leave my hand wrapped hers so she doesn't feel scared.

"I'm sorry"

She blinks at me and then frowns slightly, "did Francis know about this?"

"What?"

"I asked him to come over and he said he was doing something important today. Did he know you were coming back?"

I have to protect Francis from Hailee's wrath. He will not forgive me if I don't.

"No, he didn't know", I say and she nods.

She takes a deep breath as she stares at me intensely. What am I going to tell her? Where do I even begin? How am I going to tell her?

She squeezes my hand gently and smiles, "you look different"

"Maybe it's the hair. I couldn't get anyone to cut it"

She moves closer to me, "what happened Jonah?"

"It's a long story"

"Are you going to leave me again?"

"Never"

"Then I think I have all the time in the world to hear that story.

When I smile, tears threaten to fall out of my eyes, I blink them away. Suddenly, I don't have to worry about how to talk or what to say. Everything flows out while talking to Hailee, even more than it does when i'm talking to Jeanne. I tell her about my birthday, waking up in the institute. I tell her about the statue of my mom, the kids I met while getting ready for the showcase. She doesn't say anything while I talk. All she does is smile and chuckle sometimes. She's so beautiful when she's happy and I missed her so much.

"Woah", her eyes open wide when I tell her about Lauren. She's sitting sideways next to me now, playing with my fingers.

"Yeah"

"You could have had a sister", she says, "would have been nice. I would have thought her everything. How old is she now?"

"Six"

"So little", she murmurs.

"And smart and pretty", I beam, "we brought her with us. Not sure how my dad managed that"