Rose
NYSA Headquarters
I put the ring in my pocket so nobody would see. If I hid the relationship for this long, it would be easy to hide it even more. I'm an FA—I go undercover. I can act sad for a few days. I pushed open the doors to the training facility me and Winchester often use, and stopped in my tracks when I saw him talking to NYC's assistant. In seconds, the assistant saw me and finished up his conversation with my brother before passing me and leaving.
I walked up to my brother, pretending to be more interested in putting on my combat gloves than the question I was about to ask. "What was that about?" Dang it. That was not as subtle as I wanted it to be.
"I've got a mission to go on soon."
"What's so special about this one?" I tightened my gloves. Now, I really did only care about getting them to fit correctly.
"There's a suspected mafia in Manhattan right now. I need to track them down without leaving any recent sightings anywhere, including the station." He didn't look the slightest bit of fazed at the idea, but I was bewildered.
"A mafia? But that's dangerous, why didn't you say no—"
"Because, Rose," he looked up. "The lives of Manhattan are at risk. It's better a loss of mine than all. Like you said," He looked at me reassuringly, "you're not just my baby sister anymore. You're an independent woman." He smiled and put his hand on my shoulder. "I'll be back, okay?"
I didn't say anything for a second. "When do you leave?" He took a deep breath. "Tomorrow, probably. Let's try to keep it easy—in fact, you can come with me to leave my last public traces."
I followed him to the exit of the headquarters where our trench coats were in bulletproof lockers. I slipped my black one on and buttoned it up as he finished the last button on his beige one. When we got to the exit, he scanned his fingerprint and we both walked out, the doors to an abandoned bar closing behind us. We exited the alleyway and took a shortcut to my apartment, where I could change.
"Where are we going first?" I asked as I walked out of the bedroom, meeting Austin in the living room. He thought for a moment.
"Ice cream. It's the most busy." I nodded and we didn't waste time to get going.
"One rocky road cone and a medium chocolate milkshake," Austin ordered, slipping a 20 onto the counter. I smiled up at my brother—he always knew that chocolate was my favorite. When we got our ice cream, we slid into our 'usual' booth. We didn't hang out as often as we used to, but when we did, we had a specific table or booth everywhere we went.
As I sipped my milkshake, a memory came back do me. "Do you remember when Mom would take us to get chocolate milkshakes and we would go to the park?" Austin smiled.
"And you would always spill it all over your shirt," he continued. I smiled and nodded. "But you didn't care. You just kept playing."
"Mom didn't, either. She just watched me." Austin smiled.
"Remember when we'd all have those movie nights, and you'd fall asleep halfway through every time?" I laughed.
"We never finished Finding Nemo!" Both me and Austin smiled at the memory of Mom.
"Once," Austin began, twirling his cone around, "when Mom was lounging by the pool, I was playing with the beach ball that was floating around. I fell in, but Mom was pregnant with you so she couldn't jump in to get me." I gasped and smiled. "So Dad ran out with a tray of hot dogs. He dropped them all in the pool to catch me." Austin threw his head back and laughed. "We ordered pizza that night."
I smiled. I never knew our dad. He died just before I was born—a few weeks, Austin says. Mom was heartbroken, but she would never take it out on us. She stayed strong and raised us just like any mother would, but she died after Austin turned 16. I was 12, going on 13, being raised by my older brother. That's why he's so protective over me.
"Done," I said, hopping up. I could see that Austin was done, too. "I'll see you tomorrow?" I asked. I could tell by the look on his face that he was tired and wanted to sleep before he had to go on his mission. He nodded.
2118 Brooklyn Waye
When I walked into my apartment, Jake still wasn't home. I was shocked, but I guess I shouldn't have gotten so used to him coming back from work so early recently. I wasn't in the mood to make anything for dinner, so I just jumped in the shower before going right to bed. I didn't hear Jake come home that night, but I most likely had just fallen asleep quickly.
