“She has had some past therapy experience and experience with children. She’s part of the work we’re doing to expand our therapy corps. I would trust her with my daughter if I had one.”

“Fuck.”

“Jessica’s doing some of the teaching work. It’s good, Victoria. Identifying the problem is the first step to fixing it.”

“I’m so worried about Tristan, if he’s in there, partially aware. That’s nightmarish and it’s a nightmare I know because I was trapped for two years too. Byron—Byron’s been so fucked up over Tristan dying and this might destroy him. Their parents. Vista. Everyone.”

“We’ll handle that too. For now, keep in mind that as shocking as this is, it puts us in a better place than we were in yesterday. Do you know why?”

“You just said, identifying the problem. It doesn’t fucking feel better, Wayne. Fuck.”

“I know. But there’s a process. There are people to fall back on. You’ve done the essential thing you needed to do, now you’re going to come here, we establish a game plan, prep, take the actions you need to take, like the call to Grue. Figure out our new normal and maintain it.”

“Is this going to be Lookout’s future? One incident after another?”

“It’s one incident, Victoria. Has there been anything else this year?”

“No. Not that I know of.”

“One incident in November. It’s late April now. I’ve looked at her record, and I do believe she is getting better. The process is slow and when the events or relapses do happen, they’re so big and dramatic that it can be hard to look past them or keep everything in perspective. But she’s on her way. She has a support structure.”

“Yes.”

“I suspect her heart was in the right place?”

“It was. But… fuck.”

“We’ve been working at training people, making sure there’s more to fall back on, being preventative… there are a lot of people with a lot to prove. Lookout will be in good hands. It’s not your job to be anything else but a friend and support to her.”

“I can hear the implicit ‘it should never have been your job’.”

“Not like that, Victoria. This is a step toward something better. I promise.”

“I don’t know, Wayne. Are you even allowed to promise something like that?”

“Yeah. Have I let you down yet?”

“Not really. Fuck. Okay. I’m… a third of the way to you. I think I’m going to focus on the flying.”

“Alright. You can call back if you need. I’m in my office.”

“Thanks. Hanging up now.”

Last 20.e6

It’s over for them, and they don’t even realize it.