Kira swings Helena's hand back and forth between them, chattering cheerfully now her belly was full and the streets were growing more familiar. Helena surprised both of them when joyous laughter bubbled out of her when Kira blew out her cheeks in a monkey face. Helena couldn't remember laughing like that before. Her laugh had always been sarcastic, maddened, frustrated. Helena liked this laugh.

She would miss Kira's company when she gave her back to Sarah. Kira was light and innocence and childish fun, but she was not Helena's. Tomas was wrong… if she was Helena's child; she too would be stained with the darkness that had eaten away at her soul. This drove Helena to walk faster, for she did not fully understand what had made her this way, did not know if it was catching. How much time Kira could spend with her without being ruined.

As they neared Kira's street, Helena slowed. They might be here. She looked around suspiciously, saw no one, and pulled Kira into an alley. Kira looked confused as Helena pushed her down behind a dumpster.

"Stay here, angel. I will check if it is safe. I will come back soon."

Kira nodded and Helena headed out of the alley. She came to the house where she had found Kira once before. She snuck around the side, tried the back door and found it open, the lock broken. Creeping inside, she saw the chaos left by the Proletheans. This house was silent and empty. If Sarah was here, she would have pounced on Helena the second the door creaked open, Helena knew this.

Kira was still squatting obediently on the ground when Helena returned.

"Where else would mother go, if not this house?"

"Uncle Felix's house," Kira responded immediately.

"Do you know where this is?"

Kira nodded and grabbed Helena's hand.

When they found their way to the graffitied street where Felix lived, after a few false turns, Kira started off at a run. Helena grabbed her by the arm, pulled her to a stop gently.

"Wait. Might not be safe. First we watch."

Helena took Kira to another alley, held her hand as the squatted down behind some old crates and waited. They watched the entrance to Felix's building for close to an hour, sucking on lollypops from Helena's pockets. By the time they saw Sarah walking down the street, it was growing dark and cold and Kira had migrated to Helena's lap so she could share Helena's oversized jacket.

"Mommy!" Kira whispered and tried to jump up, but Helena held her fast, covered her mouth so she wouldn't call out to Sarah.

"Not in the street," Helena whispered in Kira's ear. "Do not draw attention. We will follow her soon."

Helena waited just long enough to be sure her sister was not followed, enjoying the last moment of her cuddle with Kira. Yes, she would miss this little girl. She would miss being family. But it was time.

Helena darted across the road, guiding Kira safely through the traffic this time, cringing as she remembered the time she did not, thanking god that her idiocy had not cost her angel her life. They climbed the stairs to Felix's studio, and Helena banged on the door, standing just slightly in front of Kira protectively, just in case she was wrong and it was not safe. No one would harm Kira, Not while she was in Helena's care, she promised herself.

There is a pause, as someone decides whether to open the door. A pause that ends rather abruptly when Kira calls out, "Mommy! Open the door!"

There is a rattling sound as the screwdriver is ripped from the lock, and the door slams open with a crash so loud Kira jumps behind Helena in fright. Sarah stands in the doorway, wild eyed and pale, frantic at the sound of her lost daughter's voice.

"Kira?!" The name sounds like a sob on Sarah's lips.

But then she sees Helena, and her eyes spring wide, and she raises the screwdriver in her hand like a knife at the ready to stab her twin.

"Helena!" She spits, fearfully and angrily, not understanding why Helena is there but assuming it is a threat.

"Mommy, NO! Don't hurt her!" Kira screeches, shooting out from behind Helena, who has raised her hands in a gesture of placating surrender.

"Please, sestra. I just bring her back. That is all."

Sarah stops, screwdriver mid strike, mouth dropping in confusion.

"What?"

"I bring Kira back," Helena repeats, keeping her hand raise, nudges Kira to go forward with her knee.

Sarah eyes Helena with distrust, but her daughter is in front of her, and if nothing else about this makes sense to Sarah; that does.

"Kira," She says, holds out her hand to her daughter, "Come here monkey."

Kira eyes her and says, "Promise you won't hurt Helena."

Sarah's eyes flick to Helena. She doesn't want to make that promise.

"She didn't hurt me, Mommy, she saved me," Kira told her. "They took her too. They hurt her Mommy! They put her in a cage!"

Sarah looked at Helena again, shocked by Kira's words. The idea of somebody hurting Helena, treating her like a hated animal strikes a chord in her, hurts her. Because even if Helena is murdering psychopath, she's still Helena's twin. Her blood, her family in a way no one else is. Not for the first time, Sarah wonders what made Helena the way she is. What kind of childhood she had. Whether Sarah would be just like her if she had been the baby placed with the church and not the state.

Helena ducks her head, avoids Sarah's eyes. Kira's description of her punishment shames her as though she has been stripped naked in front of her twin. She did not want her to know this. She pushes Kira forward again.

"Go on, Angel. Go to mother."

Kira turns, eyes wide as she looks up at Helena.

"But you're coming in too, aren't you Helena?"

Helena feels Sarah's eyes on her, but doesn't look up.

"No, angel. I brought you home, now I go," Helena says, and shifts her weight, ready to take a step back.

"But we're your family! You belong with us!" Kira's face crumples, and Helena cringes at her disappointment.

She crouches down, reaches out to affectionately stroke Kira's cheek, while Sarah watches the exchange tensely, screw driver once again gripped tightly, but also with a growing curiousity.

"I am sorry, Angel," Helena says in a voice so soft it shocks her twin, "I do not belong. I must go."

"But where will you go?"

Helena shrugs.

"I do not know. But you stay here, Angel. Stay safe."

Kira gives a little sob.

"I love you, Helena. Don't go!"

"I love you too, my Angel," Helena gives Kira's hand a little squeeze before letting go. "But I must."

Helena leaves, flinching at each one of Kira's soft sobs.

"Helena, wait."

Helena stops at her twin's command, looks over her shoulder in confusion. Sarah steps to the side, holds the door open in an invitation Helena does not understand.

Helena cautiously steps back to the door, and hovers uncertainly, looking at Sarah in askance.

"You belong," Sarah says in a slightly resigned tone, as if already knowing she's going to regret this decision.

Kira grins widely at her mother, then at Helena.

Helena still cannot comprehend.

"But… but I am broken," Helena says.

"We'll fix you," Kira insists, a grabs onto Helena's hand and attempts to drag her inside.

Helena stumbles forward a step, but braces herself against Kira's pull.

"And you already have a family," Helena whispers, her voice aching with hurt.

She touches her hand to the spot where Sarah's bullet pierced her chest, and Sarah flinches, guilt running through her.

"I'm sorry, Helena. I thought you were dangerous." Sarah eyes flick to her daughter, her perfect, unharmed little daughter. "I was wrong."

Helena's eyes widen at this, but still she still resists Kira's efforts.

"You want me to stay?" Helena asks in awe, still disbelieving.

"Yes," Sarah says firmly.

Helena's mouth gapes open, her lips fluttering as though she wants to speak but can't. Her hands shake too, and she stays frozen on Felix's doorstep until Sarah loses her patience.

"C'mon, meathead, hurry up already," she says and stalks forward to grab Helena's other hand and forcefully yank her inside.

"You're letting the heat out."