What's the worst that can happen when you're forced to co-captain with your rival?
Nova Shields can't stand Leo Hendrix. She hates his arrogance and obnoxiousness, that crooked smirk he does when he thinks he's right. Leo can't stand Nova's wits, t...
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NOVA === ==== ==== ==== 07/06/2002 - 2pm Phoenix, Arizona Redhawk Base ==== ==== ==== ====
"Novella?" Dad exclaims with a gasp.
"Yeah, hey Dad."
"Novella, where on Gods green earth have you been? It's been a whole month since I last heard from you."
"Here and there, the job is intense. Working in the FBI is tough, y'know?" Only a half lie, I guess I'm in some sort of agency.
"Of course, honey. I can imagine. Well, if it's of any interest to you, I got a new prosthetic leg." He says enthusiastically, making me grin at the phone.
"That's really cool, Dad. Does Debbie's son still call you iron-man?" I chuckle. Debbie, his wife, already had two children before she met my Dad.
"Of course. I think that name is going to stick around for a while." He laughs down the phone, before stopping abruptly for a good few seconds.
"Dad? You still there?" I question, looking at the phone screen to see if the line disconnected.
"Yeah, honey. I'm still here. I just remembered something that I needed to talk to you about."
I already don't like where this is going.
"Oh? And what's that?" Hesitancy is laced right through my words. There's another tense silence.
"It's about your Mom."
My vision turns fuzzy at them words, legs backing down and into the nearest chair. Seventeen and a half years since I've heard anything about her. My hand that's gripping the phone starts shaking.
So the news about Dad's new prosthetic leg came before information about my Mom? Was he just scared to tell me straight off of the bat?
"Dad, just tell me. Right now." I speak with utter urgency, whole body tensing up. She's dead, they found her body.
"They found her wedding ring."
Not what I was expecting.
"The homeowners of our old farmhouse found it in the yard when they were renovating, underneath a little bit of soil near our old vegetable patch. They only spotted it because it was glinting when they were digging the place up. After all these years, I finally know what really happened."
"How the hell do we even know it's her ring?" I mutter in disbelief. There's absolutely no fucking way. No way in hell she'd do that to my Dad, to me.
"I got a call from the owners, since they knew about her disappearance. I had them mail out the ring to me. It is definitely hers, Novella."
Oh my God. Nothing could have prepared me for the wave of emotions flooding through my entire system. I don't know if I'm relieved, or furious. Relieved in the fact she is out there alive; raging at the fact she left us without any form of closure. Surely not. That wasn't my Mom. Was it?
