Shattered (Completed)

Epilogue

Florence sat on the velvet cushions, his head held in his hands. A cup of milk and honey sat in front of him on the desk, memories adding the final touch, making him growl and angrily swat it from the table.

"Damn you!" Florence growled out, wincing as the glass shattered against the wall, milk and honey dripping slowly down the wall. He wrung his hand out angrily. "Damn you." he seethed, his words more restrained now, hissed from between his teeth. He shook his head, placing his hands on the desk as he panted.

Alex was gone. He hadn't been there to save her. Instead, he had been off at the Griffin's house, looking at Jason's old room, Alex's old room, Daniel's old room. He had been off being selfish, not even bothering to take Alex, who needed the memories replaced more than him.

His phone buzzed, a number he didn't know plastered over the top. It's about to fall off the table before he grabbed it, taking a deep breath before answering it. 

"Hello?" he asked softly.

"Florence?" replied a nervous voice, but he could never mistake it, not even over the phone. The voice brought back so many memories, good and bad. Mostly pain, Florence decided.

He took a long pause before clarifying, "Daniel?"

On the other side of the phone, his son cleared his throat nervously. That had always been his nervous habit. "F-Florence. I need. . . Alex is gone. And I thought maybe you could help get her back. She doesn't belong at the lab, Florence, she belongs with me, she belongs with you. . . She belongs with family. And. . ." There was a choke, as if Daniel was choking back tears. "Please, Florence, I think you and I could get her back. . . She's run away from the lab."

Relief flooded Florence, but he kept it silent as he responded to Daniel with, "You're asking me to help you, after you took my granddaughter from me, you locked her up, you stole her back. . . you want me to help you?"

"So that she can be safe, Florence. With us. I won't take her back to the lab, I swear on my life." His words began to slur and stammer. "Please, Florence, she's all I have left."

Again, Florence took a pause to think before he replied. And when he did, it was quick. He muttered, "Meet me at your house in thirty minutes, unarmed and alone. I'm not doing this for you, though. I'm doing it for Alex."

And then he hung up.

He was going to get his Alex back.