Apponitments - [ IC ]

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[Robert pointedly ignores the extended glass.]

She's a smart girl. She's... old enough.

[As much as he doesn't like saying it, he knows it's true.]

We just... have to let her go.

[That was hard to say. He has to pause after the words and bow his head briefly, pulling together all the thoughts threatening to go in every direction.]

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But I just got her back...

[He means only to think it. It comes out so broken and sullen its obvious his filter has disappeared with his sudden grief at the idea of just...giving her up.

At least he's ignoring his empty glass now. All he can see right now is the baby he didn't get to see grow up and suddenly Booker isn't sure if he's breathing right because he missed everything. Even Comstock missed everything and somehow that hurts worse too - that the bastard had her and wasn't there for her, with her, loving her. Doing things a father should do.

He puts the glass down because his hands are shaking.]

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[Robert takes a deep breath, folding his hands together for a moment. Because it's strange for him, too. He'd watched the girl grow up, but, now, he's powerless.]

We...

You have to let her decide. How far to wander.

[He smiles. A strange, uneasy smile.]

We can't keep her caged.

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[Like hell we can't. Some dark part of his mind shouts out and Booker has a hard time keeping his stomach from rebelling when he hears it in his head. It's wrong, it's so wrong and he can't help but wonder exactly how far off he is from Comstock. Maybe not as far as he thought.]

You're right.

[He bites it out. Forces the words to come as if saying them will negate his thoughts.]

She's not something to be kept.

[His chest aches as he says it.]

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[Robert smiles a little. Because he knows that dark thought. Because it creeps around his. She is something he wants to keep and protect and shut away from the world. Not for the reasons Comstock did, but that doesn't make them better.]

Besides, she cares about you, Booker.

You aren't losing her. Just giving her a little room.

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[He doesn't voice the paranoid idea that Elizabeth will stop caring, that she is just going to run off with Gai and he'll never see her again.

A bit like someone else he knew ...

And that thought doesn't help either.]

She needs it.

[He says what he wishes he meant. He wants her to be happy, that's honest enough. But he can't get rid of this fear that he is, in fact, losing her.]

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["The bird or the cage?"

And Booker always suggested the bird. The coin was always heads, and he always encouraged her to choose the bird.

He knew. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew.

The girl needed to be free. She needed to spread her wings, fly far from Columbia. Where she could be safe. Where she could be free.]

She does.