Prosperous In Battle

4: Why Me?

We sat at the bar in the diner and a nice lady a little old than me served us. "What can I get you, honey?" She asked Ottilie with a big smile. Ottilie looked at me. "Go ahead. Tell her." She looked down at the menu and was fumbling over her words. She'd never spoken to anyone outside of the school. "Tell me. Tell me what you want baby." I tell her grabbing her attention before her breathing got out of hand. 

"Pancakes." She mumbled. "Do you want syrup or fruit?" "Fruit, please." "Okay." I smiled at her encouraging her. "Two of your pancakes with fruit, please." "Of course. Any drinks?" "Water." I offered Tilly and she nodded. "Two glasses of water." The lady smiled at Tilly. 

"You can speak to others." "What if they see?" "Who?" "Dreykov. We're not allowed to speak to outsiders." "You don't have to worry about their rules. I'll protect you now." She looked unsure. "Here's your water." "Thank you." She says to the lady. I smiled, small progress.  

"Why me?" She asked me as we waited for our food. "What?" "Why me? Out of all the girls. All the black widows, why me." "Because you're special to me." "Because I gave you some pills?" She asked unsurely. "No." She frowned. "Because you gave me my life back." She frowned now but got distracted by the food being set down in front of us. "Thank you," I say and she leaves with a smile. 

"This is so good." She says excitedly. I watched her eyes light up as she ate the treat in front of her. She looked so happy to be eating something that wasn't bland from the school. "Cute kid." The waitress said. "Thank you," I say looking back at Tilly again. I ate my food and gazed out the window. 

Shit. The black catsuit, the heavy boots, the belt it was unforgettable. "Ottilie, stay here, and face that way," I instruct her. "She's here aren't they." She whispered waves of tears came over her but she fought them off. "I'll protect you." We should have never stopped. We need to get out of here. "Excuse me." I get the waitresses attention. "Yes." "Could you please watch my daughter..." She frowned at me. "I will just be a minute." My eyes flicked to the windows and she noticed them, they were looking around. Looking for her. "They're going to take her if I don't do something." She looked at the little girl beside me who was again distracted by her food. "I can take her into the back. Until you come back." I nodded. "Don't let anyone touch her," I asked her. "I had my children taken from me... I won't let them do it to you." I nodded and turned to Tilly. "You're going to go sit with this lady." She shook her head. "No." "Tilly, you need to stay with her." "Please don't leave me." She gripped my arm tightly. "I'll be back. I promise." She was going to cry. I brushed her hair off her face. "I'll be back. I promise." I kissed her forehead and helped her down off the high chair and the lady showed her to the back. 

I went out and looked in the street, I spotted 5 of them. I spotted one of their cars. I spotted a cab. I ran down the street to the cab and opened the back door. "Sorry, thought I just left my phone in here," I tell him as I threw the chip onto the floor. The cab would drive around the city they'd follow it. I run back to where I spotted one of the school's cars and attached the other to it. The one in the back. The front would follow Tilly's chip which was in the cab, the second car would follow also, but they would think I was following them, making them think I had lost track of Tilly. 

I hid behind a street corner. "The kids heading this way." I hear one of them call. "In the cars." They piled in and speed off. I breathed heavily. That was close. I went back into the diner and through to the back. I need to see her. Make sure she was okay. 

I saw her sat on the sofa in the office. "Natasha." She ran to me the minute she saw me and held me tight. "I told you I'd be back," I say holding her, she needed this. She was scared. I hadn't explained anything very well to her. I just took her from all she knew. But she knew something was going on. She knew I was in the right. She knew that because she came with me. But she didn't understand why the school was bad for her, why she had to leave her home.