"Welcome back, Ivan. I've been busy while you were at Taipei," said Stefan as Ivan entered his office.

  "Please tell me you've got some good news," said Ivan.

  "The good news is, I've managed to get Annette's restraining order against you lifted. The bad news is, she won't agree to supervised visitation unless it's at the Pine Springs house, in the presence of both her and a third party of her choosing, and you can't buy or give Mikaela anything without her approval," said Stefan.

  "That's a start I guess," said Ivan.

  "Yeah, but it's a lot of hoops to jump through. Oh, and she reserves the right to bar you from seeing Mikaela if she thinks you're acting inappropriately," said Stefan.

  "I bet she'll use that clause the first chance she gets," said Ivan.

  "Well, you can counter sue for full custody, but all we've got are a couple of incidents of neglect on Annette's part - and those happened because of court dates, so we can't exactly use them to prove anything. The rest is just circumstantial evidence of Mikaela being unhappy," said Stefan.

  "Fine, we play the long game. I'll take the supervised visitation for now," said Ivan.

  "Well, I've already arranged for your first supervised visit, Annette has been notified that you'll be coming over this Saturday," said Stefan.

  "All right, thanks Stefan," said Ivan, as he got up to leave.

  ---

  Ivan arrived at the Pine Springs house, dressed in a gray MIT hoodie and jeans.

  Parked outside was the SZPD Stormkreuzer, with Officer Vasquez and Officer Martinez sitting inside.

  "Hello Officers," said Ivan as he got out of his car.

  "Hey there Mr. Zakhrov," said Camille, waving from the car.

  "Why are you still here? The restraining order is lifted," said Ivan.

  "Force of habit I guess. Besides, we've kind of taken a liking to Mikaela," said Camille.

  "Well, thanks for coming. I guess it's good to have some friendly faces around," said Ivan.

  "Well, we're not exactly friendly faces to Annette," said Michelle with a grin.

  "All right, I better get inside, before Annette decides that talking to you is inappropriate," said Ivan.

  Ivan walked up to the front door, and rang the doorbell.

  After a few moments, Annette opened the door.

  Ivan barely recognized her.

  Her hair was cut even shorter than before, and her black hoodie and sweatpants were so oversized, that she looked much smaller than her 180 cm height.

  Her face, devoid of makeup or adornment, was sour as she silently let Ivan in.

  In the living room, sat Sky, wearing an equally baggy and shapeless outfit.

  "So, you're the ex-husband," said Sky, looking Ivan up and down.

  "And you're the non-binary math teacher," said Ivan, looking Sky up and down, surveying Sky's pronoun bracelet and septum ring.

  "Yup. And I'm also the third party. And I don't like you," said Sky bluntly.

  Ivan was about to respond, when he noticed Annette's glare.

  "Where's Mikaela?" he asked instead.

  "Before you see her, we need to set some ground rules," said Annette firmly.

  "Fine, what are they?" asked Ivan, struggling not to sigh.

  "One, you will not call her 'Princess', or any other terms of endearment. Two, you will not touch her or try to hug her. Three, you will keep your questions and topics of conversation to only school, and her health. And finally, you will not breathe a word of endorsement of the SZPD, or anything to do with Sirius Software," said Annette.

  "Fine," said Ivan.

  "Good. Now, sit down, and wait. Sky, watch him while I get Mikaela," said Annette.

  "Sure," said Sky.

  However, before Annette could get up, Mikaela herself appeared at the top of the stairs.

  Her long black hair had been cropped short, and her eyes were bloodshot from crying.

  She was wearing an oversized blue hoodie, and jeans.

  She came down the stairs slowly, and approached Ivan hesitantly.

  Ivan struggled to not come forward and hug her. Instead, he settled for a warm smile.

  "I've missed you Mikaela," he said, his voice cracking slightly.

  "Hi Daddy, I've missed you too," said Mikaela, struggling to keep her composure.

  She had overheard Annette's rules, and gave Ivan an apologetic look, as she sat awkwardly between Annette and Sky.

  "So, how have you been Mikaela? How's school?" asked Ivan.

  "It's OK, I guess," said Mikaela.

  Ivan raised an eyebrow at Annette, who said nothing.

  "And how is Sky's class?" asked Ivan.

  "Sky's nice," said Mikaela.

  Ivan sighed wearily.

  "Tell you what. How about I read you a story?" he asked.

  "I need to see the story first," said Annette firmly.

  "Don't we have a copy of 'Alice in Wonderland'?" asked Ivan, raising an eyebrow at Annette.

  "I got rid of all the heteronormative books. Here, you can read this one," said Annette, handing Ivan a copy of 'Heather Has Two Mommies'.

  "I see," said Ivan, as he opened the book.

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  He quickly scanned through the pages, before looking up at Sky.

  "Sky, I think we've gotten off on the wrong foot. I'm Ivan Zakhrov, he/him," he said, standing up and extending his hand.

  Sky looked at his hand for a moment, before taking it.

  Ivan's hand closed around Sky's wrist in an iron grip. He pulled Sky towards him and threw them onto the coffee table, shattering it.

  Sky's scream was cut short as Ivan rolled up and shoved the book into their mouth, gagging them.

  "Let's make something perfectly clear. I don't care what you and Annette are doing to each other. But if you try to spread this poison to my daughter, I will hunt you down, and kill you with my bare hands! You got that you filthy degenerate?" asked Ivan softly.

  "Ivan Zakhrov! Get out of my house!" screamed Annette, trying to pull Ivan off Sky who was whimpering and shaking.

  SLAP.

  Annette was sent reeling backwards as Ivan backhanded her across the face.

  "Don't ever touch me again. I'm done with this. You can have this thing, and stay the hell away from Mikaela," said Ivan, seizing Sky by the scruff of the neck, and effortlessly flinging them towards Annette.

  He turned to Mikaela who was rooted to the spot.

  "I'm sorry, Princess. I didn't mean to do this in front of you," he said gently, getting down on his knees and opening his arms.

  Mikaela took a tentative step towards Ivan, but Annette threw herself between them, seized Mikaela, and fled up the stairs.

  "Daddy!" screamed Mikaela, struggling against Annette, as Ivan chased after her.

  Annette ran into her bedroom, slammed the door shut, and locked it.

  Mikaela tried to call out for Ivan, but Annette clamped a hand over her nose and mouth, while she fumbled for her phone.

  Keeping a firm grip on Mikaela, Annette dialed 911.

  "911, what's your emergency?" asked the operator.

  "Yes, I need the police. My ex-husband just assaulted me in front of my daughter! I've locked myself and her in the bedroom, I'm in 114 Pine Springs. Please come quickly!" sobbed Annette.

  "Ma'am, please stay calm. Help is on the way. Can you tell me if your ex-husband is still there?" asked the operator.

  "I don't know. He ran after me, but I locked the door," said Annette.

  "OK, stay on the line with me. Officers are on their way," said the operator.

  "Thank you," said Annette.

  Mikaela struggled to get free, but Annette, still clamping down her hand over Mikaela's mouth, dragged her towards the bed.

  She sat down on the bed, and fished out a bottle of sleeping pills from her nightstand.

  Ignoring Mikaela's muffled screams, Annette opened the bottle, and forced a few pills into Mikaela's mouth.

  Mikaela struggled, but Annette held her down, and forced the pills down her throat.

  Mikaela kept struggling, but eventually, the pills took effect, and she slumped against Annette, unconscious.

  A minute later, there was a polite knock on the bedroom door.

  "Ms. Petra, it's Officer Vasquez, you can open the door now. Ivan Zakhrov has left the premises," said Camille.

  Annette quickly hid the bottle of pills, opened the door, and let Camille and Michelle in.

  "Thank God you're here. He hit me!" wailed Annette, pointing to her cheek, where a purple bruise was forming.

  "Yes ma'am, we know. He confessed everything and turned himself in," said Camille. She spied Mikaela slumped on the bed, and went over to her.

  "Is she OK?" asked Camille, checking Mikaela's vitals.

  "She fainted, I think from shock," said Annette.

  "All right, I'm calling an ambulance," said Camille, pulling out her radio.

  "Please! Don't take us to the Sirius Zone! Please take us to downtown Boston!" begged Annette.

  "All right," sighed Camille, before calling in the ambulance.

  ---

  Mikaela awoke groggily to the sound of beeping hospital equipment.

  Her head felt heavy, and it hurt to try to remember how she got there.

  Her vision cleared, and she saw Annette sitting beside her bed, holding her hand.

  "Thank goodness, sweetie, you're awake," said Annette, smiling.

  "What happened?" asked Mikaela weakly.

  "You fell very sick, so I brought you to the hospital," said Annette.

  Some of the fog in Mikaela's mind cleared.

  "Wasn't Daddy supposed to come see me?" she asked.

  "No, he ran away. He isn't coming," said Annette, relieved that Mikaela didn't remember the details.

  "Why?" asked Mikaela, the anti-depressants in her system numbing her emotions.

  "Because he did something very bad. But don't worry, you're safe now," said Annette, hugging Mikaela.

  Mikaela hugged her back, but the hug felt mechanical, and had no warmth.

  "Ms. Petra? I need you to fill out some paperwork," said the doctor coming into the hospital room.

  "I'll be right back OK?" said Annette, and left Mikaela.

  ---

  "OK, I've done as you've asked, and shot her up with enough anti-depressants to make her forget the trauma. But I'm warning you, Ms. Petra. Mother or not, you had better clean up your act. Mikaela was nearly overdosed," growled the doctor, shoving a discharge form in Annette's hands.

  "Thanks doctor," said Annette, signing the form.

  "Don't thank me. I get that it was a shit-show, but that's no excuse to stuff sleeping pills into a kids mouth!" said the doctor, snatching the signed form from her.

  "Y-you're right. I'll be more careful," said Annette, trying to sound contrite, while silently fuming that even here, people were judging her worth as a mother.

  The doctor's expression softened slightly.

  "Look, I've seen cases of mothers fleeing dead-beat and abusive fathers, but you still need to keep your wits about you OK? Sleeping pills are not harmless, especially for a child like Mikaela. I'm just asking you to not overreact and panic," she said, laying a supportive arm on Annette's shoulders.

  "I get that," said Annette, breathing a little easier.

  "You two are cleared for discharge. Your own bruise should fade in a day. Consider yourself lucky. I've seen women come in with broken jaws from a guy's backhand," said the doctor, hurrying off.

  ---

  Ivan sat in Stefan's office, his head in his hands.

  "How bad have I messed up?" he asked, after a long silence.

  "Short version, catastrophic. Long version, anybody with a function brain cell of what fatherhood is about would say they'd have done the same if not more," said Stefan.

  "What are my options?" asked Ivan with a sigh.

  "Good news is, that Sky person is ACAB enough to flee rather than press charges, so you don't have that to worry about. Bad news is, this little incident has cratered any chance of you getting custody or even visitation," said Stefan.

  "I should have stayed calmer," said Ivan bitterly.

  "That would have just kicked the can down the road until it blew up even harder. No, what happened was pretty much inevitable," said Stefan.

  "So now what?" asked Ivan.

  "For now, you keep your distance. Annette might ease up on Mikaela if she feels you aren't around to swoop in and take her away. Best thing you can do right now," said Stefan, laying a comforting hand on Ivan's shoulder.

  ---

  "This SZRA meeting is now in session. Commissioner Hastings, please proceed," said Elena Park, calling the session to order.Richard Hastings stood up.

  "First. The police brutality investigation of Officers Camille Vasquez and Michelle Martinez. They have both been cleared of any wrongdoing and are back on active duty. However, in light of the incident, I'm recommending that the SZPD pull out completely of Pine Springs and respond only to 911 calls," he said.

  "Why?" asked Elena.

  "Because, the SZPD cannot and will not function in an area where their every move is framed as police brutality regardless of what they do. If it wasn't for the clear video evidence from both the Stormkreuzer's dashcam and traffic cameras in the area, those charges would have stuck, and good officers would have been unfairly terminated," said Richard, his voice hard.

  "So we let Pine Springs be without law and order?" asked Margaret.

  "Hey, you can't yell ACAB all day and then expect cops to stop you from getting mugged. We're only human after all," said Richard.

  "All right, but what about criminal elements in Pine Springs spilling out?" asked Eliot.

  "We'll still keep the traffic cameras operational and monitored. We'll just not have any active patrols in the area," said Richard.

  "All right, all in favor?" asked Elena.

  Everyone except Ivan raised their hands.

  "Mr. Zakhrov? You disagree?" asked Elena.

  "Partially. While I accept that the SZPD doesn't want to operate where they are not welcome, I'd feel much better if there are at least some patrols on standby at the perimeter," said Ivan.

  "All right, will that work commissioner?" asked Elena.

  "Yes, that would. We'll have patrols stationed at the existing perimeter checkpoints for rapid response," said Richard.

  "Fine then, with that modification, the motion is passed," said Elena.

  ---

  Annette hummed contentedly as she drove through Pine Springs towards Boston Public School, with Mikaela sitting silently in the passenger seat of the Hyundai Ionic 5.

  The SZPD had pulled out of Pine Springs almost completely.

  There were no more loud rumbling SZPD Stormkreuzer sedans patrolling the streets.

  The neighborhood had seen an explosion in self-expression. Pride flags, mural street art and street performances were now commonplace.

  However, Sky had moved out, fearing for their safety since that disastrous meeting with Ivan.

  "Ah, this is so much better now isn't it Mikaela?" she commented lightly as they neared the school.

  "I suppose," said Mikaela, who had grown a little over the summer break.

  Her hair was slightly longer now, and she kept it hidden under her hoodie so that Annette wouldn't make her cut it again.

  The one bright spot of the summer break, was that Sky had moved out.

  Apparently, it was the "bad thing" that Ivan had done - threaten Sky.

  Whatever it was, Mikaela's life had taken a slight turn for the better.

  Annette was not as strict with her, allowing her to have apples or other fruit instead of avocado toast for breakfast, and she even got the lock to her bedroom door back.

  She missed the familiar presence of Officer Vasquez and Officer Martinez, but she was cautiously looking forward to third grade, and a new teacher, now that Sky was gone.

  Annette pulled into the school's parking lot, and Mikaela got out.

  "Bye Mom," she said, giving Annette a quick hug before heading to class.