Title: Maternal Wisdom

Chapter Title: Halliday Theatre

Author: Shineyma

Summary: There was really no way to stop Chloe from doing stupid, reckless things…aside from maybe knocking her out. [Going to the Halliday Theatre is a bad idea, but when has that ever stopped Chloe?]

Characters: Alek, Chloe, Jasmine

Spoilers: The whole series, I suppose, but especially Beautiful Day.

Word Count: 1,273

A/N: So, this is not the second-to-last chapter. This has been sitting on my hard drive for more than two weeks, and I just haven't been able to write anything else. I feel bad about leaving you to wait, so I'm giving you what I have. I have no idea when the next chapter will be out. There will probably be two more chapters after this one.

Also, thank you SO MUCH for the reviews, favorites, and alerts. The reviews especially mean a lot to me. Gratias tibi ago.

Chloe was startled to see him, Alek noted. They'd need to have another talk about situational awareness. But it could wait. For one thing, she looked completely exhausted. He stood up and moved towards her.

"Alek," she said, looking a little uneasy. "How long—What did—Were you—?"

She broke off and shook her head, apparently unable to decide on a question.

"I was just coming to check up on you," he said, stepping closer still. "Jasmine's got a date tonight, so I'll be watching."

"Oh," Chloe said weakly, looking at him almost suspiciously.

He took a final step forward. He was standing close enough to kiss her now, and for a moment he wanted nothing more. But he looked at her, saw how tired she was, and reminded himself that he was giving her time. So instead he rested his hands on her shoulders, leaned forward, and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"You can have all the time you need," he said simply. "You just let me know."

Even the brief contact of kissing her forehead was enough to send a rush through Alek. It was amazing, how addicted he was to her. She was just standing there, looking up at him, and his heart was racing. Ridiculous.

"Thank you," she said after a moment, exhaling heavily. "I—"

The chiming of her phone cut her off, and she stepped back from him to pull it out of her pocket. Alek frowned as he watched her. There was a strange look on her face, one he'd never seen before. It was a shocked sort of horror. She touched the screen briefly, and a hopeful smile appeared briefly on her face.

"Chloe?" he asked.

"I," she paused and licked her lips. "It's from my dad. He wants to meet."

Alek shook his head, confused. He'd never heard Chloe speak about her father—he'd assumed that the man was dead.

"He wants to meet?" Alek echoed.

"Yeah," Chloe said, crossing over to her desk and opening a drawer. She pulled out a bundle of construction paper, and Alek watched, puzzled, as she opened it like a book. She was smiling again, a disbelieving smile that made him fairly suspicious.

"Chloe, what is going on?" he asked as she put the paper back in the drawer.

"I have to go," she said instead of answering, moving to the door.

"Wait," he said, stepping to block her way. "You're not going anywhere until you tell me what's happening."

"I'm going to the Halliday Theatre," Chloe said impatiently. "To meet my dad."

"And what's so important that you have to go to an abandoned theatre in the middle of the night?" Alek demanded, grabbing Chloe's arms as she tried to get past him.

"It's a long story," Chloe said, looking at him pleadingly. "But I have to go."

Alek sighed. There was really no way to stop Chloe from doing stupid, reckless things…aside from maybe knocking her out. For a moment he was tempted, but then he took another look at her. When she'd walked into her room, she'd looked completely exhausted. She was still exhausted—honestly he was a little worried she would fall unconcious all on her own—but her eyes were lit with a desperate hope. He knew that if he stopped her from going, she would never speak to him again.

He should put her safety above her feelings for him, he knew. It was his duty to protect her. But, he reasoned, if he knocked her out, she would never trust him again. He needed her to trust him in order to do his duty. So he couldn't stop her with force…and there was no way he would be able to talk her out of it. The only thing he could do was follow her and do his best to protect her.

"All right," he said. "Fine. But I'm coming with you."

Chloe opened her mouth to protest, and Alek shook his head.

"It's not up for debate," he said, letting go of her to pull out his phone. "I'm coming with you and I'm calling Jasmine to meet us there."

"Fine, whatever," Chloe said. "Just hurry, would you?"

Alek hit the speed dial for Jasmine's phone and was surprised when she answered almost right away.

"What's up?" she asked, sounding tired.

"Chloe's about to do something foolish," he informed her. "Are you still on your date?"

"No, I'm on my way home. I got stood up," Jasmine explained, sounding depressed. Then his first sentence seemed to register. "What's she doing?"

"Apparently meeting her father at the old Halliday Theatre," Alek said, although he made a mental note to track down Zane and have a chat with him later. "Meet us there?"

"Will do," Jasmine affirmed.

They hung up their phones without goodbyes, and Alek turned to Chloe, who was bouncing impatiently near the door.

"Come on, already," she said insistently.

Alek shook his head, unable to believe that he was going along with this nonsense.

"Rooftop's faster," he said, indicating the window. "Since you're in such a hurry."

Chloe nodded and darted to the window.

"Let's go, then!" she said, even as she climbed out to the roof.

Alek followed fairly reluctantly. Valentina was really on to something with all her talk of emotional detachment. If only he didn't love Chloe, it might not be so hard to see her in danger. Of course, she was the Uniter, the hope of their people…Everyone got worried when she was in danger. He snorted. The truth was, he was in love with Chloe. There was no changing that. It was pointless to think about what could have been.

As they set off across the roof tops, Alek noted a car pulling up in front of Chloe's house. It was Brian, he realized. He wondered what the human wanted. More of Chloe's time, presumably. It was with a stab of vicious pleasure that Alek returned his attention to his path. The thought of the human hanging around, waiting for Chloe's attention, and eventually leaving unsatisfied was a pleasant one. Perhaps that made him childish.

Oh, well. Everyone had flaws.

CAAC

When they reached the Halliday Theatre, Chloe paused. She'd kept up a fast pace the entire way to the park, but seeing the building seemed to freeze her in her tracks. Alek looked at in consideration. Aside from being ridiculously creepy, it was also big. Too big. There was no way he could do a full sweep of the building, and no hope of blocking off all the exits.

In other words, it was the perfect place for a trap. Even with Jasmine (who he could hear approaching from the other side of the park), their chances of getting out of a trap alive and unharmed would be miniscule. He was already wishing he had just knocked Chloe out and had done with it.

Chloe started to move forward, and Alek grabbed her arm.

"Wait," he said.

Jasmine appeared around a corner, and she looked just as apprehensive as he felt. But he knew there was no stopping Chloe, who was tapping her foot anxiously as Jasmine reached them.

"Now can we go in?" Chloe demanded.

"Me first," Jasmine said after exchanging a look with Alek.

"My dad said come alone," Chloe protested.

"Chloe," Alek said, much more calmly than he felt. "It's our way or no way. This could be a trap."

Chloe looked ready to argue, then deflated.

"Fine," she muttered.

So the three of them headed into the theatre, Jasmine in the lead and Alek bringing up the rear.