Hiro had a very difficult time sleeping. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop thinking about Kassandra and how she was just... there, existing. He wondered if she was just a dream and that when he woke up, she would be gone. He wondered what kind of experiments they were running on her. He hoped they didn't do anything that would hurt her. Could he protect her if they tried anything? Maybe he should release her, even if it meant his job and career. Eventually, his thoughts began to drift off as his tiredness took over and he finally fell asleep.

-

The next morning, Hiro woke up with dark bags under his eyes. Luckily, his glasses did a good job of covering them, but he definitely needed some coffee. After his morning routine, he decided to go check in on Kassandra. He hid a fish in his backpack from the kitchen just in case they didn't feed her again. 

When he got there, the Jakob was still sitting there, watching a sleeping Kassandra. 

"Oh? You're back?" Jakob said, drowsily. It was apparent that he hadn't slept much either. 

"Yeah, I can take over again," Hiro said in a firmer tone than he had last night. 

"Yeah, whatever," Jakob yawned and got up to leave. He placed a cold hand on Hiro's shoulder. "It doesn't do much anyway."

[i]"If only you knew."[/i] Hiro thought to himself.

Hiro watched carefully as Jakob staggered out of the room. He sighed with relief as soon as the older man was out of sight. He then turned to Kassandra and smiled. He was glad that she wasn't just a dream or a figment of his imagination. He sat down on one of the chairs, and found himself dozing off as he watched the sleeping creature.