Taken

Chapter 2: Papa and Anna

Anna woke up the next morning. For a moment she was disoriented until she realized that she was asleep on Papa's chest, his arms holding her protectively. One arm felt cold on her small shoulders, but the hand in her hair was warm. Papa's eyes were closed and she knew it wasn't time to wake up. So she burrowed deeper into his chest and went back to sleep. She barely noticed when Papa woke up an started to stroke her hair.

The Asset watched as his little girl slept on his chest. She had woken up in the middle of the night with a nightmare. The Asset had taken her in his arms, promising to hold her until she fell asleep. Anna had curled up on his chest like a cat, her thumb going into her mouth. He was going to have to break her of that habit, but he didn't feel as if her first night as his daughter was the right time for it. Right now it was enough that she had accepted that he was her father. Karpov had told him to keep telling her that until she had no memory of her actual father. The Asset would do that, but he was sure she didn't need much convincing. She was already calling him "Papa" and hugging and kissing him as much as he was her. She had accepted her new life.

Anna woke up with a groan and looked at him. "Papa!" Anna squealed, jumping on his chest as she gave him a wet kiss to his cheek. The Asset stood, holding her in his arms.

"Good morning, doll. Now who are you?" The Asset asked. He would ask her this question repeatedly until she answered without hesitation and believed she was his baby.

"I Katie, Papa," Anna said.

"No. I gave you a new name. Your name is Anna. You're my little girl. Your name is Anna," the Asset said.

"Name Katie, Papa," Anna said with a confused look in her blue eyes.

"No, it's not. Your name is Anna. Say your name is Anna," the Asset ordered sharply.

Tears formed in her blue eyes. "Papa, please," Anna begged, making the Asset feel terrible, but his daughter was going to learn to obey him.

"Say it. Say your name is Anna," the Asset said sternly.

"I Anna," Anna said. The Asset gave her a warm kiss to her forehead as Karpov walked in followed by a doctor with a tray of needles.

"Soldat, is the child ready for her injections?" Karpov asked.

"What injections?" The Asset asked, holding his daughter tightly in his arms.

"If you even wish to keep her here, she needs to be inoculated. This has the serum and this has a drug to wipe her memory," the doctor said, indicating the needle with a bright blue liquid in it and the second needle had a bright yellow liquid in it.

"You're not using the chair," the Asset said. It was a statement, not a question.

"We will have to use the chair to speed up the process, but we want to see how she reacts to the serum and drugs. Now hold her still," the doctor said. The Asset held her on his lap and watched as the doctor cleaned her arm and dumped the serum into her. Anna screamed in pain as the serum started to go through her system, followed by the drugs. The second shot rendered Anna unconscious and she fell into a drugged sleep on his lap.

"How long is she going to be asleep?" Karpov asked.

"A day or two. We should see results when she wakes up. Soldat, bring her to the lab in an hour. She is to receive the serum 3 or four times a day and the drugs to wipe her memory once a day," the doctor said in a brisk voice and left the room, followed by Karpov.

"The Asset just sat there, stroking Anna's hair. "I'm sorry, doll," the Asset said as he kissed her forehead. It broke his heart to hurt her like this, but HYDRA would kill her if he didn't protect her. It made no sense to put the serum in her or make her forget. She was three and had accepted that she belonged to him and her name was Anna. Granted, she woke up this morning thinking she was Katie, but the Asset had been prepared to make her forget the name and accept the name he gave her.