OMG this comment is amazingly beautiful! Thank you so much! I agree - the Mayor totally saw her as another tool among many, something to wind up and let go (which he basically did after his death just as much as he did before it) but if he'd actually been as paternal as he'd claimed he would have left her something better than what he did. Thank you so much for the feedback - I was seriously worried this whole experiment wouldn't work since it's been so frigging long since i committed fic! I'm breathing a huge sigh of relief.