She's scared. She's never been scared before in her life, not of her father or of the experiments because she didn't know she should be afraid of him. She knew it hurt, and he always told her she'd behaved admirably because she didn't cry; she screamed.

Sinthia watches him reach for her, and she presses back half an inch until he stops. "Don't leave," she says hesitantly, after a minute. "I don't know anyone else here. Nobody looks like the people I know except you. I don't..." Her childlike shoulders move, arms wound about her waist. She's alone, and relieved and afraid and unsure what to do next, all at once. And Steve maybe understands a little bit about what she came from, so maybe she can trust him a little bit about this.

"Will you sit with me for a while?"