"Alecia, what are you meaning," came the pleading reply from James.

"Fine," spat our Alecia. "Like every day since I was attacked, talking and dealing with it hurt. But, unlike the past I could deal with it easier."

"Why?" James questioned in a quiet voice.

"I met you yesterday. In those few minutes we talked last night, there was something I had not had in a long time. You saw me as me, not as a victim. That made me feel powerful and safe. I was then able when your sister asked me able to talk about what happened. I thought to myself that there was someone who loves me for me not focused on what happened to me."

James was shocked. Was he that transparent that Alecia saw how he felt about her? Quietly he asked "What do you mean?" to find out what she was thinking. Could he hope, dare he push her for her feelings and what would her father say?

"You saw me as me, not a victim. I also though I saw ..." Alecia then paused. In the last twenty-four hours she made dramatic leaps forward in dealing with what happened, simply because of what she thought she saw in James' eyes. She knew she needed to talk to James face-to-face rather than trying to talk about this over the telephone, but would her father actually agree if he was not present.?

Alecia continued "Could we talk face to face, if possible? This is a hard conversation to have on the phone."

James knew that Alecia was right. They needed to finish the conversation face to face, as he needed to observe Alecia's reactions to determine if he was pus.h.i.+ng her too much.

"Let my call your dad and see if I can come over to talk to you. There is a number of things we need to resolve."

"Do you have his number?" With that Alecia sent an email to her father indicating James was going to call him.

"Anna got it for me. Once I have spoken to him, I will call you back."

After ending the call with Alecia, James dialed the number for Yao Tan Anna had given him. Yao Tan, answered after a couple of rings, saying, "Mr Jones, I received a short email from my daughter telling me you would be calling."

"Thank you for taking the call. I was just trying to talk to your daughter about what is proposed. While I am happy to help, I just wonder if ..."

"It is the right decision? I have spoken to your sister, and further with the police and Alecia's psychologist, who she only spoke to for a few minutes today. Her psychologist believes that being in Australia will aid her recovery further, provided she has ongoing support."

"The police given what Lu Jinhu did to your sister believes for Alecia's safety, at least until the criminal proceedings are underway needs to be away from here. Their initial suggestion was witness protection until the charges are finalised. That is going to take at least three months as they want to wait for the DNA test results to be returned. That type of restriction will drive my daughter crazy."

James paused, before deciding to continue "Mr Yao, I was just wondering if before a final decision is made, if I could go and talk face-to-face with Alecia. Unlike my sister who was an adult when she married Hou Yi and moved third of the world away, Alecia is a teenager who is facing that, even if it is temporary."

"Alecia needs to make the choice rather that having her father or other adults around her imposing it on her, so she feels in control. I would also guess that, unless she has appropriate advice she would take the wrong casual clothes to head into the middle of a cold chilly winter in Australia."

"I was going to talk to you and Alecia about it, but I would suggest that while most of her her luggage is sent to Australia on my bother-in-law's plane, she will still need to supplement it. I would then propose she and I depart twenty-four hours later on a commercial flight to allow her to do that, and hide her destination. That delay, will allow my family to start getting things ready for her arrival, and for you to complete the necessary paperwork to a.s.sign temporary guardians.h.i.+p of Alecia to me or one of my sister's-in-law."

"Mr Jones I can see you are concerned for my daughter. I would prefer for her to go with the rest of your family, but hiding her destination makes sense, as does getting her agreement to go," came out a defeated reply from Yao Tan.