"It's a useful skill to have." Lindsay replied.

"Let's go." Ash said.

"I want to get back downstairs and see how she's doing." he told them.

"Fair enough." Lindsay responded.

"See you downstairs, Mom." he said to Rowena, before they both left and headed down the stairs, making their way to the livingroom, where Desiree more than likely still was.

"Heads up, she MAY be sitting on the floor still." Ash told Lindsay. "In fact, I'll be surprised if she isn't." he added, as they stepped into the room.

Lindsay was silent as he witnessed this.

"She seems... comfortable. As in, honestly comfortable." he commented.

"Mmhmm." Ash mumbled.

"I wonder if that's a personal preference, or something that she's just grown accustomed to, so she's gotten used to it..." Lindsay then wondered aloud.

"Dunno." Ash muttered.

"Regardless..." Lindsay then said, waving at her in response.

"Hello. I'm Lindsay." he introduced himself, saying the words, but signing them out as well, so she could understand him.

Ash took the empty bottle, and nodded.

"Thanks." he said, and sighed, before thinking for a moment.

"Hmmm..." he mumbled.

"Ah!" he exclaimed, snapping his fingers.

"Knew I forgot something." he said, before rushing out of the room. A few moments later, he returned with a smartphone, and handed it towards Desiree.

"For you." he told her. It even had her name engraved on the back, which she saw through the hard translucent pink protective casing.

Lindsay read the message, and was a bit surprised by it.

'She's intelligent and articulate.' he thought, before nodding and finding the number of the phone in the device, and handing the phone back to her.

He then took his own phone out and sent her a message.

Here's my number. I'm Lindsay Fyrane. A pleasure to meet you. he sent her.

Lindsay and Ash looked at the ceiling, before looking at each other.

"Well... here goes." Ash said.

"Indeed." Lindsay replied, before looking at Desiree.

The woman in this place is our mother. She's really nice. he sent her over her phone.

She's been looking forward to meeting you. he then added.

Ash fiddled with his phone for a moment, and showed it to Rowena.

"That's her number." he said. "Well, the number for the new phone I gave her." he clarified.

"She's not the best with sign language yet." he muttered.

"So we communicate via texts and such." he explained to her.

Ash and Lindsay looked at Desiree for a moment, wondering if they had seen what they swore they just saw.

Ash, however, was jolted back to reality when Rowena asked her question.

"Eh? She's 7." he answered.

"Why?" he asked.

"Is it her articulation and grammar and such?" Lindsay then inquired.

"Yeah, it is." Ash agreed.

"But... well, I figure I'll bring it up with her at a later date." he said.

"Speaking of writing, though..." Lindsay muttered. "Perhaps you should consider getting her into the school system." he suggested to Ash.

"In due time." Ash replied.

"This is all new for her, so I'm going to let her get settled into a home where people actually care about her, before I start telling her she'll need to leave it for hours a day." he said to his brother.

"...well... when you put it THAT way..." Lindsay mumbled, trailing off a bit, and then sending another text to Desiree.

Are you hungry? it read.

"Hmmmmm." Lindsay muttered.

"This is true." he admitted.

"Yeah." Ash agreed.

"Anyway!" he then said, looking at Desiree.

You feeling hungry at all? he texted the girl.

"If she's hungry, I'll make her up something." he told them. "Otherwise, I'll show her downstairs, where her room is and such." he added.

"You got all her stuff moved in?" Lindsay asked.

"Managed to get her room all set up a couple days ago." Ash answered.

Ash nodded in response.

"Yeah." he said.

"See you guys later." he told them, before looking at Desiree.

Come on, we're headed downstairs. he sent her via text.

-Some time later-

Ash just sighed as he walked up the stairs. Desiree wasn't downstairs, and he didn't know where she was. Lindsay was off in town buying books, and his mother was probably working on a firework or two.

However, as he made his way up the stairs, he heard something metal clang to the floor of the kitchen. He quickened his pace when he heard this, and swiftly made his way to the room in question...

...where he saw Desiree, and a large kitchen knife on the floor.

"....huh?" he mumbled, as he took in the scene.