"Dr. Linus?" Alex's smile is radiant as she stands in the doorway of the cramped office. Ben looks up from his stack of exam papers and smiles, pushing his glasses up on his nose.

"Hello, Alex, what can I do for you?"

"I know it's in the middle of the day, but could we take a walk? I need to ask you something." Alex's eyes bore into him, sweetly insistent.

"Of course, Alex." He gets up and puts on the grey sweater draped over the back of his chair. She has no idea that he'd be hard-pressed to say no to anything she asked.

Outside, Alex doesn't say anything until they're on the back side of the campus, near the south soccer field. Finally, she turns to him, looking happy and nervous at the same time. "I'm afraid you're going to think I'm crazy, Dr. Linus."

"I doubt that." His voice is calm, but his heart begins to race as he anticipates what she's about to say.

"Do you—do you ever feel like you've lived another life before? Not like reincarnation. More like—it was the normal you, but you don't remember it?" She looks away, as if she's afraid he'll laugh or disapprove.

Ben stands silent for a moment before answering quietly, "What do you remember, Alex?"

"It's weird—" she sounds relieved at the lack of judgment in his tone—"it's just flashes of things. Like a dream, but it's so real. I'm on an island, and there are guns. And," she turns back to him, "you're there, but I don't know why. It's just snapshots."

Ben feels himself turning pale. He has known this day would come, but for the past five months, his every-morning ritual has been to wake up and hope beyond hope that it will delay a little longer. Judgment day. He fears this day more than anything he has ever faced, the day Alex will reject him forever.

"Come here, Alexandra." He knows what he has to do. He will help her remember and seal his own fate. It's not for a father to look after himself. He knows that now, and he will sacrifice everything for her, all the comfort he has found in this new life

Surprised, she walks over to him, looking into his face curiously, and Ben does something entirely against school policy. In a matter of moments, he knows, it won't matter. He puts his arms around Alex and kisses her forehead.

As they touch, the memories wash over him. Alex on the swings. Alex angry. Alex practicing the alphabet on his lap. Alex lying on the ground bleeding out.

Ben feels Alex's body tense as he holds her, and his heart breaks as she begins to cry. He wishes he could spare her the pain of remembering. But she doesn't pull away.

"Dad." The word cuts the silence like a knife.

"Yes, Alex." He pulls back and looks into her tear-stained face, waiting for her to reject him, to pass the judgment he deserves.

Instead, she wraps her arms around his neck. "I love you so much."

"What?" He nearly staggers under the weight of his surprise.

She touches his face. "I understand now, and I forgive you, and I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Alex." The eyes that look back at him are the eyes of his daughter.

They walk back together, not touching, just enjoying peace and silence and the wonder of each other's company. Ben has feared the weight of judgment, but mercy is no weight at all. It's a lightness, a kiss, something like ecstasy.