Daniel left the Lo's office and went back down to the restaurant, thoughts racing. How could he tell Jenni what he knew without it sounding like he'd been keeping things from her? Well, he had been keeping things from her, of course, but it wasn't because he didn't want to tell her. He just had to find out if telling her would get his friends into trouble first. When he got to his own office, he went inside, found Jenni working at her desk. He came up behind her and rested one hand lightly on her shoulder. "Hi," he said softly.

She glanced up at him and smiled. "Hi yourself. Good meeting with the Big Bosses?" She went back to entering data into a spreadsheet. It looked like ingredient purchases.

"It was good," he agreed. He looked over her shoulder for a minute, really just stalling. He knew what he had to do, but was worried about doing it. But there was no putting it off. If he waited to tell her now, what was to stop him from putting it off again later? And again, and again, until months had passed with her wondering about her father while he said nothing.

She saved her work and then swiveled in her chair, turning to face him. "What's up?"

"There's something I have to tell you," he said slowly. "It's not going to be easy for you to hear."

Her face fell and she stared at him for a long moment. "They're firing me, aren't they? They don't like what I've done and they're firing me."

"What? No, no," he said, shaking his head. "Nothing like that. Riley and David think you're brilliant. Truly. They're as amazed as I am about how much you've improved the restaurant in such a short time."

"Then what's wrong?" Her face showed the relief she felt at his reassurances mixed with the confusion she was still feeling over whatever it was that he needed to tell her.

"Not here," he said, holding his hand out to her. "Let's go up to your room."

She carefully slipped her hand into his and followed him out of the office and to the elevators. "Daniel," she said, her voice trembling slightly. "You're really scaring me."

When the elevator doors closed, he turned and hugged her. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm not trying to, honestly. Work just isn't the place for us to talk about...about this."

She remained stiff and motionless in his arms, her brain feverishly trying to figure out what he needed to talk to her about. His girlfriend had come back. His girlfriend was pregnant and he was going to marry her. He was moving back to Earth and leaving Jenni here. By the time the elevators deposited them on Jenni's floor, she was convinced that Daniel had tracked Lelah down, re-proposed, started adoption proceedings for a little baby, and was moving to New York City. It took her four tries to unlock her suite's door because her fingers felt nerveless and she kept fumbling the keycard.

Thanks to his super-kitty nose (as Riley and David called it), Daniel suffered through every minute of her confusion and worry right along with her. When they were inside her room, he tried to reassure her. "I'm not running out on you, Jenni. This isn't about what's going on between us, I promise." Though the news might end up affecting what was going on between them. She nodded woodenly and dropped her bag on the couch and kicked off her shoes before going immediately to the minibar and rummaging around in it for one of those tiny bottles of booze. A quick glance at the label showed that she'd grabbed some bourbon. "Want one?" She held up the bottle to him, showing him what she had.

"Yes, please," he said, nodding. It was definitely a time for a steadying drink, if such a thing existed. She grabbed another bottle--this time it was tequila, she noted--and went over to the little kitchen area of the suite, added ice cubes to two glasses and decanted both bottles into the glasses. She handed the tequila to Daniel and kept the bourbon for herself. Then she perched on the very edge of one of the wing chairs and fixed her blue-blue eyes on Daniel's face.

"Thanks," he said softly. He took a deep breath. He'd stalled as long as his conscience would allow. "Jenni, I...know what happened to your father."

"Maybe that's how it started," he said, keeping his voice calm and steady in the face of her anger. "But it changed. Maybe when he discovered a way to move between alternate Earths. He traveled to an Earth that wasn't his own, and started selling advanced technology to the highest bidder. After a while, he stopped looking for combatants to sell to, and started causing wars. It was my Earth he found, Jenni. Mine and Riley's."

"No," she said again. "I don't believe you. It's someone else. One of the other people in the think tank. Not my father. He couldn't do this."

"I wish it were, Jenni. I really do. But it was him. He did do this. And that's why he disappeared. There is an agency, called the Multi-Verse Authority, who polices travel between dimensions. They began tracking him when he traveled back and forth between your Earth and mine. And they sent a team to arrest him and bring him here for trial."

She blinked in surprise. "Does he have a lawyer? Can I go to this trial? Can I see him?"

"I...don't actually know," he said, a little surprised himself. "We can ask David and Riley about it."

"David and Riley," she repeated. "What do they have to do with it?"

He sighed again. "They were the team the MVA sent to arrest him. That's why they've been gone."

She laughed bitterly and shook her head. "You know, if I were a paranoid person, I'd think you planned our first meeting all along." She stood up then, squared her shoulders and took a deep breath. "I think you need to leave. I just can't be around you right now. It's just...there's too much going on. I need some time alone."

"All right," he said, almost a whisper. He stood, leaving the drink he'd never touched sitting on the table. Before he turned away, though, he had to say one last thing. "When David told me Makepeace's real name, I didn't believe him. I didn't want to. I haven't lied to you yet, Jenni. Even when you thought I did. I had no idea who your father was until we had dinner with David and Riley." He turned away and went to the door, glancing over his shoulder at her once before leaving.

She was still standing in the same spot, though now her shoulders were drooping and tears were tracking down her face. She wanted to disbelieve him, needed to disbelieve him, but she just couldn't. The evidence was overwhelming. She knew, deep down in her soul, that Daniel was right, that her father was this awful, horrible man that Daniel said he was. When she saw him looking back at her, she turned and disappeared into the bedroom.

"I'm sorry," he said again, though it was unlikely she could have heard him. He closed the door quietly behind him as he left, walking out of the hotel without speaking to anyone and heading home.

"You don't have clearance to see the prisoner," came Sayid's reply, though his voice wasn't as confident as it had been a moment ago. Daniel's growl had a way of reaching past the conscious mind and striking directly at the primal subconscious. He looked back and forth between the two of them. "Look," he said. "I can allow you to accompany her down, but you absolutely cannot be in the same room as the prisoner. I'm sorry." His voice had firmed up as he spoke.

I'll wait then," Daniel said, shooting a glance at Jenni. Was that all right?

She nodded reluctantly and went to stand at Daniel's side, reaching out to take his hand and give it a brief squeeze. "Yes, that'll be fine. Thank you." Daniel squeezed her hand softly, holding onto it for a second or two longer than was strictly necessary. They followed Sayid upstairs and through a door which lead to a tiny room, too small for three people to fit comfortably, with another door at the far end, this one very solid looking and secured by a magnetic strip. Sayid swiped a card and the door swung open. They went down three flights of stairs to the basement that contained the MVA's headquarters, a far larger place than was hinted at by the unassuming exterior. "My name is really Muhammad. Sayid is just the cover we use for LogTech," their guide revealed once they were downstairs. "I was part of the team that recovered the prisoner."

"His name is Neil," Jenni said softly. "He's my father." She was trying to humanize the man, trying to remind this Muhammad that his prisoner was a person who had a family.

Muhammad stopped, looking back at her. "I am sorry," he said stiffly.

She gave him a tiny smile. "It's okay. I understand that it's easier to make him less than a person. If what he's done is true."

One of our operatives was killed during the mission," Muhammad admitted. "She was someone I admired."

"I am very sorry for that, Muhammad." Jenni's voice was sincere, as was the expression on her face. "Did he do it? My father? Did he kill your friend?"

"No, not personally. He had snipers stationed around the building, and one of them spotted her." Jenni nodded but didn't say anything further. She glanced aside at Daniel for a moment before looking back at the hallway Muhammad was leading them down. It formed a cross intersection and Muhammad turned and went down the right-hand side, which was marked 'Authorized personnel only.' Outside yet another secured door, Muhammad turned and said, "All right. Mr. Tej, there is a room you can wait in to your left. Ms. Rammage, when we go in, you will not be permitted to carry a purse, wear any jewelry, or carry anything in your pockets."

Okay. Daniel, would you mind holding my bag and things?" She took out the earrings she was wearing and slipped off her watch as well before holding them and the large brown leather satchel she was carrying out to Daniel.

"Not at all," he replied, taking Jenni's things. He leaned forward as though he was going to kiss her, but stopped at the last moment and straightened up, looking uncomfortable. "Good luck," he said softly, instead. She gave him a grateful smile and touched his forearm gently before turning and following Muhammad farther down the hallway.

swiped his card and opened the next door. "Please go in," he said to Jenni, gesturing. "I will be right outside. When you are finished, or if you require assistance, simply call out." He paused, then added. "I am sorry, but touching the p...your father...will not be permitted." He looked pained, saying that.

"It's okay. We're not big huggers." She stepped into the room and then turned back to face Muhammad. "Thank you." He nodded again, then swung the door closed. The room Jenni was in was minimally appointed, with only a single table in the middle of the room and one chair on either side of it. Her father sat in the chair on the opposite side of the table from her. He looked tired, but otherwise composed. "Father," she said softly, remaining rooted to the spot. "Are they... Are they treating you kindly?"

"Jennifer," he replied. "I'm a prisoner. One does not expect kind treatment in such a situation." He shrugged, revealing that his hands were bound to the table.

"So they're using rubber hoses then." She couldn't help it. The sarcastic comment bubbled up and was out of her mouth before she could bite it back. "Aren't you even surprised that I'm here?"

"You knew this would happen? You knew that one day, you'd be gone?" Anger had crept into Jenni's voice and she had her hands in tight fists in her lap.

"Of course I didn't, Jennifer. I was merely taking precautions." The momentary flash of emotion vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and he was once again calm and composed.

"The fact that you knew enough to even suspect what might happen screams volumes." She shook her head with disgust and frustration. "I can't believe you'd do this. I can't believe you'd do something so...stupid and dangerous without thinking about Mom."

Her father shook his head in an eerie echo of her motion. "The risk was minimal, based on everything I knew."

"You're stupid," she said bluntly, possibly the first and only time she'd ever said anything like that to her father. "Stupid for taking risks like that, stupid for thinking that you're above the law because you're so obscenely rich, stupid for thinking that they'd never catch you."

"What would you know about taking risks, Jennifer? What risks have you ever taken in your entirely mundane and thoroughly disappointing life?"

"Who's in jail now, Dad? Who's going to be spending the rest of his life in some awful place called Hades?" She stood up and went to the door, and banged on it. She was done speaking to him and regretted even coming to see him.

"Spending your life destitute and shacking up with a cook might as well be jail," came his final shot as the door swung closed behind her. She just laughed bitterly and shook her head at her father's last words. She followed the guard back to the small room where Daniel was waiting for her.

Daniel stood as she came into the room, nostrils flaring as he took in her scent, the sharp waves of frustration and anger competing with the bitter smell of sadness and regret. Obviously, her talk with her father had gone badly. He set her things down on the chair he'd been sitting on and wordlessly reached for her. She went immediately into his embrace, turning her face and burying it in his chest. She didn't cry, didn't even say anything, just stood there in his arms for a good five minutes. He ran gentle fingers through her hair, letting her have as much time as she needed to recover from the meeting. Leopard snarled softly in his head, urging Daniel to find her father and shred him for causing her this much pain.

Finally, she drew a deep breath and looked up at him. "I shouldn't have come," she said softly. "Let's go."

"If it matters," he answered, "I'm proud of you for going." He handed over her purse and jewelry, then lead her out of the building, following Muhammad, who escorted them until they were back in the innocent-seeming LogTech building. He nodded to both of them, then turned and disappeared into the depths of the MVA. "Would you like me to walk you back to your suite, Jenni?" Daniel asked.

"No, if it's okay with you, I think I want to go back to your house. It's so much more peaceful there, with the trees and the water." She finished putting on her jewelry and glanced up at him, an unspoken plea in her blue-blue eyes.

He completely agreed with that sentiment, and nodded immediately. "Let's go, then." He led her to the train station and they got onto the first train heading out in the direction of his cabin. She was silent the entire way to New Haven, her attention turned inwards, replaying the conversation with her father over and over in her head. How could she have been so wrong about him? How could she have missed all the little details about his dual life? "He's the reason she's a drunk," she said softly to herself, the truth of her mother's alcoholism suddenly dawning on her.

"Your father?" he asked before he could stop himself. He'd been trying to give her the space she so clearly needed, but when she'd spoken, he couldn't help but listen.

"Hmm?" She looked up at him as if she had forgotten he was there. "What? Oh. Did I say that out loud?" She flashed him a quick, sheepish smile. "I was just thinking that my mother knew what my father did. All these years, she knew exactly where he was going and what he was doing and that's why she drinks."

"It must have been terrible for her. I'm sorry." He could understand wanting to escape a painful truth. He'd almost given up his humanity doing it.