(Flashback. Don't expect it to make sense. It's Robyn's.)

The quiet voices woke me.

"If she has the operation, how much more time will she have?"

"Three to five years. If we can't get her a transplant in that time...."

"If money is the issue..."

"Hearts her size aren't exactly common Des."

A shifting, and then I was being resettled in the strong arms around me. I looked up when large fingers tickled my ribs.

"Can't fool me, Chicken." Warm brown eyes smiled down at me. "I know when you're just pretending."

I blinked at him.

"Robin. " I corrected, closing my eyes to return to sleep.

[*****]

" Why doesn't Robin talk, mum?"

"She does talk Arty." Mrs Mc'Valium smiled down at the blond child clinging to her leg.

"But she only says little words. Apollo's only a baby, but he still knows more words than Robin... "

".... When Robin was little, she was very sick sweetheart."

"Why?"

"A broken heart. "

" Cause her mum died? "

" No, darling... She was born with it... "

" But why doesn't she talk? "

"Sometimes, when people are little, and they go through a lot of pain... Words don't come to them easily... "

"But she's not sick any more now right?"

"No. Mummy's friend Cassandra fixed it for her. "

[*****]

" This is the girl, right?"

The red-haired Lady leaned over me.

I blinked up at her, unable to move. Needles. Tubes. Pain.

"You can help her, right? " Mrs Mc'Valium pleaded. "Please, Lark can't lose them both."

The red-haired Lady huffed.

"Of course, I can."

She smiled at the dark-haired woman.

" I can do anything!"

[*****]

I met a purple-eyed boy.

Daddy brought me down to the Lab to see the red-haired Lady. To check my heart.

In her office, there is a boy.

He was big. Bigger than Artemis. Not as big as the twins I sometimes saw, but close.

The red-haired Lady said she made him.

He didn't know much, though. He could talk but didn't speak unless Red-haired Lady told him to.

Eat. Sleep. Play. Clean.

He wouldn't do anything, not unless Cassandra told him to.

He sat behind the glass, in the white room.

Staring at the people who lived on the other side.

When I was in her office, he would stare only at me.

I stared back.

We were the same.

[*****]

I stood in the doorway, hand held out to him.

The Red-haired Lady had left me alone.

I remembered how to open his door.

How to set him free

The purple-eyed boy stared at me but refused to move.

I shrugged.

And walked into the room.

When I had asked the Red-haired Lady if I could play with him before, she said the boy was dangerous.

That he wasn't human.

He sat still as I came to stand before him.

We stared at each other.

With a nod, I climbed into his lap.

He didn't hug me close but made sure to hold extra still, not to disturb me as I drifted off in his lap.

We were found like that.

She let us play from then on

[*****]

The sound of music came from the purple-eyed boy's room.

The Red-haired Lady was, please.

He was getting better. Saying more words. Making more expression.

So was I.

[*****]

"Like this?" The boy twisted his lips into a grimace.

I shook my head.

The purple-eyed boy's expression returned to flat.

"I don't see how this will make them like me. "

I shook my head.

Smile. "

I showed him again, causing him to sigh.

With a lot of twitching, he bared his teeth.

"I'm not good at this. "

I patted his knee.

" Practice. "

[*****]

"The little bird seems attached to him."

One of the Twins stood on the other side of the glass, watching us play.

They were a rare sight.

"It. Alan. Experiment 3181523 is an It."

"You should just call him Crow mother."

" No."

"You promised Lark you would let him name him. "

"Just because I steal a little DNA from the guy, does not mean he can pseudo adopt my experiments."

"That's the price you pay for natural Linquesta curls mother."

[*****]

Artemis cried a lot at the funeral.

Apollo was too little to understand, but still got upset when he saw Artemis cry.

I wasn't good at crying.

I told the purple-eyed boy about her death.

He asked why they didn't just make another one.

[******]

The Red-haired Lady changed when Mrs Mc'Valium died.

She was never very nice. But even mean people can be happy or sad.

She used to smile sometimes.

The Twins used to come near her.

She used to believe she could do anything.

Even be good.

[*****]

One time, I returned to find the purple-eyed boy had been replaced.

He didn't look any different.

But he wore the smile I promised the previous Jack would help him make friends.

He said he was sorry.

And that it was nice to meet me.

[*****]

Everything was broken.

Mrs Mc'Valium had passed away.

The Twins had destroyed the Lab.

The Red-haired Lady had been taken away.

The purple-eyed boy died again, and she wasn't there to bring him back.

[*****]

"What does Hyperthymesia mean?"

"It means you get to remember everything, Chicken. "

I blinked up at him.

"Robin." I corrected it.