breaking point ; mileven.

twenty-seven.

mike's eyes widened and he holds up a finger and paces around his room.

el stayed laid on his bed and gave him a look, "sir, i'm the one who should be pacing. not you."

"no, no. this explains everything then—"

"i know." el cut him off. "it's probably why they hate me too because i know for a fact my mother hated— well my aunt hated my actual mother. i just don't get why they took me in.. my aunt— yeah i don't care about the real names, it's confusing. anyways, my aunt, terry, died in a car crash."

"so then why would your mom take you in if she hated the both of you?" mike questioned and el shrugged, "i will find out. i just know that the whole reason i put up with everything is because they were my parents. that little bit of me who told myself to stay was because they were my parents at the end of the day."

she scoffed and laid on her side as he now stopped pacing and leaned against his desk.

"i'm going to ask you something and you're going to answer me, mike. do you think emerson knew?" el asked and he slowly looked up from the floor to look at her.

"i don't know, el... ask him," he said softly.

"i was going to tonight," el murmured, "let's just see if he'll lie then," she faked a smile as coco came out of her wrist and laid across her chest.

"yes, coco, you can bite them if you please." el murmured, "but only when i say so,"

coco rubbed her head against el's hand and el smiled and rubbed the top of her head.

"i got your files all ready," mike said, "i tried my best to copy it all down,"

she used her finger and pulled him closer from across the room then pulled him down to kiss his lips.

"thank you for doing that," she murmured and he grinned, "you're welcome, it was nothing much, really," oh it was much.

he spent the whole night doing it and to perfect each word to make sure it was accurate.

a tiny bit of him wondered why he took it upon himself to get it printed out instead but he didn't want to be so lazy about it.

"don't lie to me, mike," she caressed his hand and sat up to allow him to sit down besides her.

"seriously, i enjoyed it." he smiled and pecked her forehead and she leaned the side of her face against his chest.

"i have to go, it's late," she said gently and he nodded, "i'll drive you, dove. don't want you walking at this hour,"

this time, she didn't protest and simply nodded. "okay, yeah drive me. that just means more time together, no?" she tilted her head with a teasing but innocent smile.

he let out a chuckle under his breath, "yeah..."

*

"fucking hell, you can't just sit here at night, you scared the hell outta me." emerson scolded as he flicked the lights on in the kitchen.

el sat on the kitchen island with her legs dangling off the counter and a piece of cracker in hand.

"did you just get home?" she asked him and he nodded, "yeah," he walked to the fridge to grab the drink he was here for.

"emerson," she spoke up and finished the cracker, "can i ask you something?"

"sure," he handed her some water in which she gladly accepted.

"were you there when mama gave birth to me and eli?" she asked as she took a sip of the water causally.

he paused then put on a smile and looked up. "of course. you were crying so much when you came out and eli took a few seconds before he did."