Lucas rode the elevator up to the fifth floor, hating that this was their only idea. It had just gone seven. Most of the labs were already in darkness, everyone having left for the day, and secretly he hoped that's how he would find Dr Penna's.

He wasn't sure what he was going to say to her, even if he did find her.

After Howard left, Lucas and Diana had gone back and forth on how to approach Dr Penna without revealing Lucas' conditions. It was the one thing Lucas agreed with his father on. He did not want the rest of the world to see him for the freak he already felt.

Maybe it was stupidity holding him back from going public, or good ole fashioned fear. Either way, he knew that wasn't a decision he was going to make overnight.

And that's how he found himself approaching the brightly lit lab on the fifth floor.

He knocked quietly before hearing a muffled voice call from the other side.

'Dr Ashfield?' Dr Penna straightened.

'I figured you'd still be working late.' He looked around, noticing that there were still several boxes left to be unpacked. 'I wanted to ask if you needed any help. You said your lab assistant is sick?' he recalled.

She blinked, her mouth snapping shut as she looked him up and down. Her gaze wasn't unexpected. Very few people knew what he looked like, and considering he shared his mother's dark locks rather than his father's blonde curls, most people could be forgiven for not immediately knowing who he was. It was the kind of anonymity that he liked.

'Thank you, but it's really only this tank that needs to be moved. They placed it by the windows, but it would be much easier on the floor.'

He moved to the tank, but she slid into his path.

'It's quite heavy. I've been waiting for the maintenance team to be free.'

Lucas laughed at that. 'Trust me, the maintenance team are rarely free, unless you're willing to bribe them with dark chocolate cookies.'

He stepped around her and contemplated the tank before easily lifting off the workbench.

'That was over 50kgs,' she said slowly as he positioned it where she indicated.

Lucas shrugged. It had barely felt heavy to him.

'I'm just here to help. Are you sure there's nothing else I can help you with?'

He watched as she bit her lip, her eyes sliding to some of the other tanks, and he smiled.

'Just tell me where they need to go.'

'No, I can't let you move them all by yourself.'

He picked one up and held it in the air to demonstrate that it was fine. 'Where do you need it?'

Five minutes later, the tanks were rearranged, and Dr Penna stepped back to admire what they'd done.

'Thank you for helping. I have my specimens arriving tomorrow and I would have been screwed if you hadn't shown up,' she admitted.

'A win for one of us is a win for us all, right?'

She laughed as she unpacked a box. 'A lot of scientists wouldn't agree with you. We're a secretive bunch.'

'Don't think I should comment, considering my lab is off limits.'

Her eyes went wide. 'I didn't mean to imply-'

Lucas held up a hand. 'Don't worry about it. I know what people here say about me and my work. But it is experimental and can be dangerous. There is a valid reason it's off limits.'

She frowned, and Lucas resisted the urge to shuffle his feet.

'We're looking for a way to reverse a cellular change that seems related to sunlight,' he said, deciding to share a little in the hopes of her returning the favour.

'A plant?' she asked, intrigued.

'Mammal. Looks like it could be an infection, but we only have so much data.'

Dr Penna went to ask more questions when her phone shrieked from her table.

'I'm sorry...this ring tone...' She threw him a strained smile before answering. 'Nana?'

Lucas watched as a barrage of emotions filtered across her face.

'I'll be right there.' She hung up and began throwing items in her purse before tipping it upside down and cursing.

'Is everything okay?'

She scrunched her eyes shut. 'No. That was my Nana's doctor. She's had a turn. I need to get to the hospital, but I took the bus this morning so I don't have my car.'

'I'll take you.'

Her eyes popped open. 'I don't want to put you out.'

'You won't. I'll meet you in the car park in five minutes.' He turned to leave, subtly checking his watch. He had a few hours, but he was already imagining the look that Diana would give him when he told her he'd left the labs so close to sunset.

'Thank you, Dr Ashfield.'

'Please, it's Lucas.'

'Then I'm Mirra.'

Her smile twisted his guts, and he couldn't look away. He was just a moth, caught and entranced by her brightness. Had he ever seen a smile radiate so much warmth?

Instead of overthinking it, he left for his lab.

***

Lucas pulled into the hospital car park. His initial intentions had been to drop Mirra off at the door, but he could tell that she was panicked. Her hands fluttered around her bag, twisting the straps around her wrist until the skin turned white, before releasing her hold and doing the same thing again.

She'd talked a bit as they'd left the labs, but as they got closer to the hospital, she'd become quiet and reserved. What was going through her head, he could only guess.

All he knew was that he couldn't let her walk away in the state she was.

He was already out of the car, and holding her door open before she'd registered they'd parked.

'You don't have to come with me.'

'I'll make sure you get to where you need to be,' he said as they walked into the hospital together.

The woman at reception informed them where they needed to go, and they took the elevator to the third floor.

'I'm not usually like this,' Mirra said suddenly, letting out a self-conscious laugh. 'Usually I'm the calm one.'

'You're worried about your grandmother. Seems like a normal reaction to me.'

She watched his face as though gaging whether he was saying the truth, before she let out a sigh and leaned back against the polished glass.

'She's the closest family I have.'

'You don't have to explain. Families are complicated.'

She snorted. 'They're definitely that.'

The doors pinged opened, and they followed the directions on the wall until they were in a quiet sitting room.

'Mirra.' A man approached them in a white coat, a pen tucked behind his ear.

'Dr Damar. Is my grandmother okay?' Mirra rushed.

Dr Damar steady her as she swayed on her feet. 'Easy. She's doing well. Responding to treatment.'

'Mirra?' a loud voice demanded from the room. 'Is that Mirra? Who the hell called her?'

Dr Damar pinched the bridge of his nose. 'She didn't want you to know, but as her emergency contact, my hands were tied.'

He lead them both into a room, where an older lady strained to sit up against the fluffy pillows at her back.

'I didn't want them to worry you.' The older woman glared at the doctor, who remained unaffected as he checked some of the equipment.

'They have to call me.'

The woman just pursed her lips, and huffed under her breath, before her eyes landed on Lucas hovering by the door.

'And who's your friend, Mirra?' The woman patted down her hair and gave Lucas a smile that was identical to her granddaughter.

It was like they both had sunshine in their soul; he thought to himself.

He stepped forward as the doctor left. 'I'm Lucas Ashfield. I work in the same lab building as Mirra.'

'Ashfield? You wouldn't be Martha's son?'

Lucas reeled back in surprise at the sound of his mother's name. So few people openly spoke about Martha Ashfield. Sometimes it felt as though she had never existed.

'You knew my mother?'

The older woman settled into her pillows, pleased to have made the connection.

'We moved in similar circles before her marriage. Though I only met her a handful of times. I'm sorry for your loss.'

He swallowed the lump in his throat. 'Thank you. It's been many years...'

'The pain of losing a loved one never really fades. We just learn ways to carry the pain better. I'm at that age when losing people is expected and yet still feared.' She smiled tightly, and Lucas was relieved not to see pity in her eyes, but empathy.

The older woman snapped her fingers together, making Lucas and Mirra jump.

'I have a fantastic idea. We're having a get together this weekend, just some family and friends. It would be an honour to have you there.'

'I really couldn't intrude,' Lucas stuttered.

'Nonsense. There will be some in attendance who knew your mother. I could introduce you, they could share their stories. That's the only way to keep our loved ones alive,' she said it in a way that left no room for argument.

An alarm on Lucas' watch rang, and he looked at the window.

'The sunset is lovely this evening,' Mirra said, catching his gaze.

If only she knew what it meant to me.

'I have somewhere that I need to be,' he apologised. 'I hope you're feeling better.' He threw a small smile at the old woman.

'I'll have an official invitation sent to your labs. If you're anything like my granddaughter, then you spend more time there than in your own home,' the older woman joked, not realising how right she was.

Lucas had barely left the room when he felt a warm hand grasp his elbow. He turned to see Mirra standing behind him.

'Thank you for what you did today and don't worry about my grandmother. You don't have to come this weekend. She rarely takes into consideration that other people have lives.'

'Will you be going?'

She blinked up at him and nodded.

'Then I'll be there.'