Whatever It Takes

Chapter 26

"Take over? Like, replace her? Absolutely not! How dare you ask me that? I just got my child and boyfriend back. I just lost my mother, and you're asking me to replace her!" Rhodey walks towards me, his eyes regretful.

"No. Not replace her. You have a different set of skills, you'd be a new asset to us. If you agree." Nova starts to wake up, so I walk away. I need to, I feel like yelling and throwing things. 

My dad is following me. "Nas. Please listen." I ignore him. "Nasta, please. Having you on the team would help us. Tremendously." After setting Nova down on my bed, I turn and glare at Dad as I walk to the hallway. He follows. 

"Dad. You knew her, for a long time. I only had her for a few years. I was robbed of time. My child will never know the strong, beautiful, courageous, caring, and just downright wonderful woman she was named after. We were robbed of a lifetime with her, and you're perfectly fine with asking me to replace her?" he steps forward and gently wipes the tear off my face. 

He gets quiet. "I never asked you to replace her, or Tony. We just asked if you wanted to be a part of the team. You have similar skills to her. But they complement each other. Your training was completely different. Just-just think about it." I step back, baffled by what he just said. 

"You know what saved me? Do you have any idea?" He lowers his head, avoiding looking at me. "Mom. Finding out who she was. Finding out about the both of you saved me. Nova, she saved me. I didn't see a way out. So I crashed a jet into the side of a mountain during training." Finally, he looks up at me with glassy eyes. 

"A while ago I felt the same. There was nowhere I felt I could safely exist. So I put a bullet in my mouth. But he spit it back out. He mocked me." I fly forward and cling to him. I never knew.