As soon as the door was closed, Gabriel and his wife faced off. Gabriel remained steely for a moment, before softening and moving forward to take her hand, “Come on Reagan don’t be so angry-“

“How dare you!” she pulled away from him, her eyes flashing dangerous “How dare you call me nonsensical in front of our daughter!”

“Lord help me –“ Gabriel said directing his eyes towards the roof, pleading for strength, he continued in a voice demonstrably lighter than his wife’s, “Reagan, she obviously didn’t want to talk about it-“

“You’re always doing that!” Reagan snapped, “Always coddling her, and spoiling her. You’re always making me out to be the bad guy, whenever you want to play the ‘friend’.” She spun around angrily and moved away from him, “You’re her father, act like it!”

“Calm down Reagan,” Gabriel warned, “As far as I’m concerned the role the a father is to protect his children-“

Reagan guffawed incredulously, “You think River needs protecting from her own mother!?”

“That’s not what I said!”

“That’s obviously what you’re thinking!”

Gabriel turned away from his wife, and poured himself a drink. He paused looking at his glass, and then at the bottle holding his whisky, and decided to make it a double. This certainly seemed like one of those occasions where he would need it.

Reagan sighed heavily, and leaning against one of the tables close by, as she collected herself.

“I want her to go to that Academy Gabriel.” Came the strong, quiet voice, over her shoulder.

“Reagan…”

“What?” She spun around.

“You know exactly what…” Gabriel warned his wife pointedly, he sat down, “I would like her to go as well Reagan. The Academy sounds like it has the most exciting programme and I think it would be good for her, to be in a place for young people as gifted as she is. But River doesn’t seem like she really wants to be there.” “She’s fourteen! She doesn’t know what she wants!”

“She’s not a child Reagan, you can’t treat her like one,” Gabriel sighed shaking his head, “Ultimately it has to be her decision.”

“Of course it’s not! We’re her parents. We know what’s best for her.”

“All I know is I want my daughter to be happy.”

“Why wouldn’t she be just as happy at the Academy?”

“Why are you so set of this?”

Reagan’s eyes narrowed, “You didn’t answer my question!”

“How would I know? I’m not psychic!” Gabriel practically threw his hands up in defeat, “There might be a thousands reason why River doesn’t want to go to that place, or there might just be one. Either way, I’m not going to force her to go anywhere she doesn’t want to.”

“I would never force her to do something she disliked Gabriel, I’m not a monster! But she’s just a teenager, she needs guidance…” Reagan shook her head, “She’s getting wayward and capricious! And it’s gotten worse since Simon went to work in Capital City!”

Gabriel massaged the crease of his brow, and took a long drawn sip of his drink. He felt the couch dip as Reagan placed her body close to his and reached one hand up to massage his shoulder, “I don’t want to nag Gabriel…but River needs discipline and she needs something challenging to put her mind to – and obviously that’s not something she can get from us.”

“She’s still young Reagan.”

“Young or not, our daughter is not like some normal teenager! She’s brilliant in ways that people have never seen before! How many three year olds do you know who can correct their older brother’s spelling?”

This, Gabriel had to agree with. Sometimes, when he watched his daughter work, whether it was quantum physics, playing the piano, dance her way across the stage with a grace almost unearthly, he had wondered if maybe she had been engineered by some higher power.

But then he remembers how ticklish she is, the time years ago when he found Simon and River pillaging the cookie jar (with an adorable look of guilt on their mischievous faces), and how she always kisses him before she goes to bed and he knows she’s his daughter.

“This Academy…the programme they have, for once in her life she won’t be head of the class because the other students there will be able to keep up with her! She’s got to learn that things can’t always go her way.”

“You make her sound a petulant debutante Reagan, and she’s nothing of the sort” Gabriel said angrily, “Besides there’s other places that can offer her these things. Now I’ve thought about it, River might be right. I mean what sort of school doesn’t even let the parents of the children who are going to be studying there go with them to an interview?! And they wouldn’t even let us take her there! They sent that shuttle to fetch her instead! It’s all a very dubious business if you ask me.”

“Ha! So I guess you’re just going to stand by and see your daughter become nothing more than a tittering ballerina waving a rose back and forth in the chorus!?”

“If she wants to dance Reagan, I’m not going to stop her.”

“She’s completely wasted being dancer!”

“The Osiris Academy of Dance is hardly a waste of space. It feeds right into the Osiris Dance Company. I wouldn’t be surprised if she were accepted in the Company within six months of her enrolling. River has the talent to excel in whatever she does.”

“Besides, she might decide that dancing is not the thing for her after all. It’s not like we don’t have the money – we could send her anywhere! What about that University on Londonium? Or even Sihnon – her academic record isn’t even a question that needs considering, and she’s a Tam after all, we have a very long tradition of Companions in the family.”

“She was made for something greater, “Reagan insists, “You have Simon – he’s become that brilliant doctor that you always wanted him to become. What about me?” Her momentary loss of control snaps her back into attention. She bites her lip.

“I have Simon?!” Gabriel says incredulously, “Reagan, are you hearing what you’re saying?”

“Don’t give me that.” Her tone is more subdued now, but not any less menacing, because she’s on shaky ground now and she has to turn the argument around, “You know exactly what I’m talking about. His whole life you’ve been saying that he was going to become a surgeon – what less could he possibly do?”

“I would have never forced to do something he didn’t want Reagan. If you ever took the opportunity to even wave him you’d hear and see for yourself that he’s making a difference in people’s lives. He’s helping people – I heard he reattached a girl’s leg – HER WHOLE LEG – the other day! In fact, I think he’s more at home at the hospital than he ever was here…”

Reagan sneers, “You’ve actually deluded yourself into thinking Simon’s decision to go to the MedAcad had nothing to do with you-“

“He wants to make me proud! Fine I’ll admit that. He’s always made me proud. He’s grown into an upstanding, decent citizen of society – what father could not be proud of a son like him? But I would have supported him to the nth degree if he ever wanted to do something else. I would be disappointed, I’ll admit but he is my son and I want him to be happy. As do, I want my daughter to be.”

“And what do you think I want for my children?”

“Sometimes I wonder if you’re not thinking about what you want for yourself…” Gabriel shrugged into his coat.

He gave his wife a final look saying, “I’m begging you to remember she’s your daughter Reagan, not some final desperate opportunity for fame,” and slammed the door behind him.