h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

* Eli returns Kyra's smile, while Lucy bows forward and kisses her on the forehead. *

Sleep well, honey.

* She strokes Frankie's head before straightening up again. *

You too, sweetie.

* She joins Eli in the doorway, and they both smile at Kyra. *

If you need us, *wake* us, okay?

* They wish Kyra goodnight again and withdraw, leaving her door slightly ajar. *

*Kyra pulls off her boots, as she'd not remembered at the door, removes most of the pointed objects around her person and crawls into bed. She hugs her sheep in the crook of one arm and turns the light out with the other. She's determined not to start crying again, but she can't seem to help it, and she's furious at her weakness. She buries her face in a pillow to muffle the sounds. No need to worry anyone any more than she already has. They'll just think she's making a fuss. After all, it isn't all that bad. She'd half-expected him to be a bastard even before she met him*

*But why didn't he love her?*

* In the kitchen Eli and Lucy hear the muffled sounds coming from Kyra's room. They know they're both thinking the same thing, so they quietly clear away the glasses, and withdraw to their own room. *

*Kyra hasn't cried since the previous day. She'd felt like it, and almost wished she could - it would have made her felt a little better - but she couldn't make the tears come. Instead, she has to deal with her deep sense of darkness, betrayal, sadness, anger and guilt without any release*

*Of course, there's always beer*

*She heads into the kitchen and gets herself one. Frankie sticks by her side like a shadow, though that may be because of the beer*

* Eli and Lucy are in the tardis kitchen, preparing dinner for themselves. They look up as Kyra enters and smile at her. Eli crouches down to give Frankie a pet, while Lucy contiinues chopping vegetables. *

Hi honey. How are you? Will you join us for dinner?

*Kyra nods*

Sure.

*She hadn't realised until she'd smelt the food, but she's starving*

*She sits down and deftly avoids the first question by draining half her beer*

* Eli gets up from petting Frankie and quickly prepares some food for her before washing his hands and returning to the kitchen table. He glances at Kyra before starting to chop some onions. *

How's your head? Feel up to telling us what happened yet?

*Kyra rubs her face gingerly*

My head's fine.

And what happened isn't really all that important.

*She's been playing it over in her head, and while the words still hurt, in the grand scheme of things, none of it matters*

* Eli stops chopping for a moment and glances at Kyra. *

It's important to *you* - so it's important to us, too. But if you don't want to tell us... Well, that's your decision.

*Kyra shakes her head. She doesn't not want to, in fact, she wants to know if she's overreacting, but it's hard to start*

Everything was great. We talked, did some stuff. He told me he'd been looking for me.

* Eli nods slowly. Lucy looks up from behind the oven. *

So he knew about you before you met him? How did you convince him you *were* his daughter?

*Kyra shrugs*

He said that he was arrested when I was two. The charges were trumped up. He said my mum took me to see him, but then when I was four we stopped coming. I don't remember. He said that when he got out he looked for me. But I'e been off the radar since I was nine. He said I looked just like her.

* Lucy nods. *

So you've had a couple of nice days together. What went wrong?

*Kyra immediately looks guarded*

That's the thing, it was just a couple of days. So it doesn't matter.

*She finishes her beer and gets up to pour herself a glass of wine*

* Eli and Lucy exchange a look, and this time it's Eli who speaks up. *

So how did you get injured? You said *he* didn't do that...

*Kyra sighs*

He didn't. I just fell.

*She starts to look upset again. She knows she isn't being very forthcoming, but this is harder than she had expected*

* Eli gives Kyra a knowing smile. *

Meaning we should shut up about it for now?

* Lucy drains the pasta and starts to spoon it onto three plates. She adds the sauce, and hands one to both Kyra and Eli. There's a small bowl with grated Parmesan cheese on the table, as wel as bowls with olives and green salad. *

*Kyra nods, then smiles apologetically*

I'm being stupid. It's not really that important.

*She helps herself to a generous portion of parmesan and starts eating*

* Eli smiles again. *

You should know better than to try and kid yourself - or us. But if and when you want to talk about it, we're here.

* Lucy smiles at Kyra as well, and both of them dig into their pasta. *

*Kyra nods*

I know.

*She lapses into silence, but she isn't unhappy for the first time in several days*