By the time Ciara awoke, Horatio wasn't there.

She was sad to see him not there but she knew he had places to be. 'Take care, my Time bug.' She thought, hoping he would hear her thoughts.

After another shower and making herself a smoothie back in the mansion later; her stomach was ready for real food yet. Needed to ease back into things. Ciara wandered down stairs to actually find the place... pretty quiet. "Ello, Papa? Big Blue? Nate? Anyone down here?"

As she walked further into the room there was suddenly a voice behind her, "Ciara?" Nate placed a hand on her shoulder.

Ciara jumped. She hadn't sensed him or anything till his hand land on her shoulder. "Geezeus, Nate!" She had a hand over her chest, "Don't do that!"

"Ah-sorry!" Nate withdrew quickly, "I'm always getting in trouble with sneaking up on people x.x but I swear I don't mean to"

She gave him an unimpressed look before laughing it off. "Don't worry about it. Hey, you haven't seen my fathers anywhere have you?"

"Ah, Doctor McCoy had a conference to go to, and Doctor McHale is out exploring some place he used to know" Nate shrugged, falling into his rolling chair and gliding over to his desk, "Anything I can help you with?"

"Right... It's been two weeks..." She sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. Big Blue had had that conference circled on the calendar in the kitchen for months in advanced.

"Not really. I kinda promised Dad he could run some tests on me. You know to figure out if my powers had something to do with me not getting brain damage/ being alive after drowning and all..." She turned, "I guess I'll have to wait till he gets back."

"uhh... sounds easy enough. How about we get started for him?" Nate hopped back to his feet, "you know, just uh... few little things to establish a baseline towards further experimentation. Stuff like that"

"You're almost as worst at Dad for trying to hide your excitement. Alright, I guess you've been working under Big Blue long enough to do the baseline of tests. But nothing more ok? I really don't feel comfy letting anyone but my Dad do tests on me..." She said heading toward the back. "I'll get the scanner suit on." (A white bathing suit that records heart rate, pulse etc and transfers the information to the computer.

Nate chuckled, "I'll set up the bed." he agreed and began buzzing around the lab.

A mere twenty minutes later and Nate had her talked into a full body exam, covering her from head to toe in wires.

"Is this really necessary?" She asked, shifting uncomfortable in place. "It seems a little bit like over kill..." She was starting to not like where this was going.

"Don't worry about it" Nate assured, "I just want to gauge how much electricity naturally runs through your body. With the increased amount of water I'm wondering if other levels have changed."

Ciara took a deep breath. She was finding it hard to stay still. The wires, the beeping of the machines... It was reminding her of the pieces she remembered as a child; when Sinister did tests on her. 'Don't think about it. Don'tThinkAboutIt. Happy place. Go to your happy place.'

"How much long, Nate? I need a break."

"Hm? Oh, just a moment" Nate replied, taking a few more minutes before finally finishing the current test, "Okay, there. Take a break and then I'd like to check a few more things"

Ciara didn't wait for him to finish his sentence, as soon as she was unhooked she grabbed a robe and booked it out of the basement. She sat on a chair outside, trying to calm herself down. 'Tests are so much easier when Big Blue is here. He's so distracting.' She sighed, not sure if she'd be able to go back down.

After a few minutes Nate came upstairs looking for her, "Ciara?" he approached cautiously, "are you alright?"

She shook her head, "No I'm not-" She sighed, "Sorry. I know you're trying to help and all. But it just..."

"... I understand" Nate replied quietly, "I'm sorry. I'll leave you alone" he turned to leave.

She grabbed his sleeve to stop him. "No Nate. It's not like that. It's not you at all." She sighed, "It's just... You know how at congress when I said I was experimented on? Well, I was taken from my father. Kept alone and told if I was good I would get to see my father soon.

If anyone other than my Dad does tests on me... I have flashes of that time. Back at the Charles place, Jean was training to be a doctor and my Dad left her to do some tests on me while he was away. I didn't have flashes but I ended up punching her in the face and running out.

So it's not you... It's me."

"I understand, it's alright" Nate patted her hand, "all the same however, I let my excitement cloud my judgement. As a scientist I have to be aware of everything, especially the emotional state of my subject. I should have noticed you were uncomfortable and stopped awhile go, so for that, I apologize."

Ciara smiled and gave him a hug, "You're forgiven. You didn't know the full story. I may be able to do a few more... But I also wonder why you're doing a bunch of tests that Big Blue has already done on me in the past. Don't you have the results on file?"

"Hm? Oh, apparently a lot of your files were lost with the institute. A lot of people have had to go through testing again to get all the data back" Nate explained.

Ciara raised her eyebrow, "O...Okkkay." That didn't make sense. Big Blue was already prepared for the worst. Her files were like... triple backed up. Or did her father not trust Nate fully with the information? She'd have to talk with him later on the subject. "Alright. Let me go get another smoothie. I think I'm starting to get my feel for food again."

"That's good" Nate smiled, "take your time"