Page 443 of Chaos has a Name
“Uh, what do you need?” she asked.
He shrugged.
“I’m sticking close.”
Elizabeth just sighed.
“Is this a ‘dad sicced me on mom’ thing, or because you’re my kid you have the overwhelming need to follow me, even if it is to the bathroom?”
He laughed.
“Uh, neither? Maybe I’m just hanging out with my mom at her job. Sometimes an inkblot is just an inkblot, Rorschach.”
She snorted.
“You’ve been hanging out with the shrinky-dink dad again,” Elizabeth accused.
“Maybe.”
If this had been a husband, she would have told them she was fine. Since he was her child, she’d humor him. For them, her baby birds, she had patience.
An endless well.
“Okay, Son,” she said.
As they got into the elevator, he pulled some gum out of his pocket and handed her a stick. She took it, because again, he was her child.
This was a new experience for her.
Oh, she’d taught people how to do her job, but she never had to do it…kindly. She busted balls more often than not, and now, she was trying to be a mom, agent, and director all at once.
“How are you liking it so far?” she asked, knowing he’d understand.
He grinned.
“Your job is fun.”
It absolutely wasn’t fun.
For some reason, she was cursed to be good at it, and this job had become her—or she became it.
Either way, this curse to walk through blood and bowel made her who she was.
Crazy.
“It’s a bunch of descriptive words, Koda. Fun is not one of them.”
He linked his arm through hers, and she put her head on his shoulder.
“You know we’re going home, right?” she asked.
He nodded, knowing where she was taking this. It was going to be the‘granddad is getting chemo talk’or‘she couldn’t let him work with her in DC’talk.
It was time to figure out which.
“Uncle Ivan said we were. I wish we weren’t. I kinda like it out here.”
She stared at him.
