“… You’re Markus.”

Markus looked over towards the doorway and noticed a little girl standing there with an expression that resembled hope. He knew who she was. She was the one who traveled with Kara. He turned around and moved over to where she stood and knelt so he could be eye-level with her. “And you’re Alice.” A light smile graced his lips when she seemed embarrassed that he knew her name. He wasn’t sure why, but he supposed it was because she never assumed the leader of the rebellion would know she is. Believe it or not, he knew everyone who was in Jericho.

Alice tucked some of her hair behind her ear. “How do you know my name?”

He wanted to chuckle. “I know everyone in Jericho. It helps that I met with your caretaker Kara when you first got here.” All three of them, Luther, Kara, and Alice, joined Jericho at least a few weeks ago. He never had the chance to formally meet Alice until now, though he never expected a child to get mixed in all of this. He recalled the child android he saw when he first approached Jericho where all hope was lost. The child had been discarded when his parents didn’t want him anymore.

… Android or not, a child should not be living on the streets like that. Markus was appalled humans could show such a lack of compassion for a child they wanted, but he supposed there was nothing he could do about it at the moment. When they gained their freedom, hopefully he’d be able to set up the new rules when it came to android children. If humans wanted children, but could not have them, then he wanted to ensure nothing like that could happen again. He didn’t even have time to mention the android children who get abused in their homes.

She exhaled a soft giggle. “Oh, I’m glad you got to meet Kara. She’s great. She’s…” She trailed off while holding her hands together, which caused Markus’ face to shift. There was great pain in her expression, as if she were remembering things she shouldn’t. Markus supposed everyone has a story, including this little girl who probably seen more than enough traumatic experiences in her time. He hates that she faced such trials.

Footsteps distracted them both. “There you are Alice,” Kara looked at Markus, “You don’t need to bother the leader of Jericho. Come on.” She grabbed Alice’s hand and lightly tugged her along, though Markus simply stood up to stop her.

“She’s not bothering me. You can come to me any time you want.”

This made the girl smile again, but Kara still pulled her away.

“Bye Markus!”

--
 

It was cold in Detroit, but not enough to stop Alice from going to the rooftop with Markus that morning. She wanted to learn to play the piano and Markus was willing to teach her, though he asked Kara first before doing anything. Kara seemed pretty hesitant, but when she saw the puppy dog pout Alice gave her, she eventually gave in. This made Markus smile, especially to let her mind remain at ease. She was safe in Markus’ hands. He hoped she would know that.

“Here, just—” Markus was interrupted by the sound of a key being tapped a little too hard, which made him grimace a little. “Don’t tap it too hard otherwise you won’t have the appropriate melody. Here, follow my lead.”

Markus allowed his fingers to flow across the keys expertly, though that only seemed to confuse Alice a little more. She released a light sigh of frustration and nearly slammed her face on the piano until Markus chose to stop her from doing so. A light smile appeared on his face as her grabbed one of her hands to press the keys gently as he did them. “Just close your eyes and allow it to come to you. Learning to play can be difficult, but I know you can do it.”

He watched her a little while longer and enjoyed the taps she made, though most of them sounded off-key. It didn’t take too long for her to understand the melody, but she was still having trouble. They decided to take a break and watch the snow falling to the ground from the chairs that were situated up there. He enjoyed being out here on his own, but he didn’t mind the company.

It was a comfortable silence until Alice ended up breaking it. “… So, I can tell you look at Kara a lot…”

Markus immediately felt uncomfortable with where this was going. “But it’s okay, cause she does the same to you too.”

This caused Markus to pause briefly before he turned to look at the girl who sat beside him. “I’ve never seen anyone look like that. I’ve only read about them in books.”

He chuckled softly and stood up. “Come on. It’s time to return you to Kara.”

--

Their lessons have carried on for a long time. Slowly and steadily, Alice was finally understanding how to play the piano better than she had been when they first began. Markus was proud of her to say the least. He knew she had been aware of how he looked at Kara, but he didn’t realize how obvious he was being. It didn’t take him long to make a move on her, one night when she was trying to leave the ship with Alice because she thought it was too dangerous. He didn’t blame her, yet it broke his heart that she would do that without telling him first.

If she was serious, then Markus would have given her the name of his contacts to help lead them somewhere safe. He supposed he couldn’t help himself at that point. He had to let her know how he felt, lest he go insane from it.

“What are your intentions with Kara, Markus?”

Markus looked towards Alice who sat in the piano chair. She was looking back towards him with a curious expression, though he was caught off guard by her straight forwardness. If Markus wanted to admit it, he’d probably tell her that he felt embarrassed to even answer that question, but he knew how she was. She was too curious for her own good and wouldn’t drop a subject if she felt passionate about it. Kara was her mom, so it wasn’t hard to see where she was coming from. Even so, Markus didn’t know how to answer. A part of him didn’t want to simply because she was quite young. Was it any of her business?

He awkwardly looked away, “I care for her. If that’s what you mean.”

Alice stood up and made her way over to him, standing in front of him, “No. What are your intentions? Are you going to marry her?”

Markus grew confused for a moment. “Marry her? Alice—”

A light smile appeared on her face when she couldn’t keep up the joke anymore. “I’m just kidding. I know you care about her, but don’t you dare hurt her!”

“I have no intention of hurting her, Alice.”

She giggled and wrapped him in a hug, which he returned easily. He was thankful that he had Kara and Alice in his life, otherwise he wasn’t sure how much of this burden he could carry. Kara would come see him when he had moments of silence and he would spend his time teaching Alice how to play the piano. Both of these occurrences kept him sane through all of this.

And he never wanted it to change.