Conflict Of Interest - Part 2 (When Your Crazy Ex-Sister-In-Law...

Truth & Dare (aka Not The End)

( Note: Better late than never, after more than half a year, here is the last chapter of this fic! I hope you'll enjoy it! :) )

Alicia was sitting by the kitchen table, with some pieces of paper in front of her, immersed into telling a story to Victoria who was blinking at her mother with big eyes from her crib, luckily not understanding a word she was uttering. 

"Are you really telling Stephen King stories to your barely two months old daughter?" Sergio asked as he stopped behind her.

"Well..." Alicia looked back at him. "I certainly won't raise my daughter on fairy tales. Life is scary. And she'll be prepared to face it."

"Uhum." Sergio left it at that not being in the mood to get into a debate about Alicia's views about what good parenting is and sat down near her. "I didn't know you like doing origami." he added when he noticed a little cat figure between her fingers. 

Alicia raised her work with a pout. "Well, since we don't have too many toys around here and it is not advised to show up at stores at this point... I have to be creative." she shrugged her shoulders. "And I miss my Commissioner." she added with a sad expression on her face. "I left him at a shelter when I went after you. I promised him I'll go back and take him, but... gosh... I failed even my cat!" she added with a bitter laugh. "But I guess she's doing fine. It's a good shelter. They are treated nicely there. Just... someone might have even adopted him already after all these weeks with me not showing up..." she added with trembling lips. "Anyway..." she looked at the paper cat again. "Meet General." she added proudly.

"We used to have a couple of cats when I was little." Sergio said pensively. "They kind of freaked me out, you just can't figure them out..." he laughed. "But they are nice memories, it was a small house, remote but isolated, close to the beach. I could imagine living like that again."

Alicia suddenly looked back at him, a kind of excitement flying over her expression.

"Ok maybe not exactly like that..." Sergio continued. Now I can afford a bit more comfort and luxury. Like a proper bathroom." he nodded. "And maybe a private jet." he added pondering.

They both laughed.

Victoria reached a hand towards the improvised little toy, Alicia placed it in front of her. 

"You're pretty good at it." Sergio said with a smile. "I never would have guessed you like doing origami. I thought you're more the stone skipper type."

"I am." Alicia laughed. "I don't exactly like it... But I had to kill time with something during those boring courses at the academy so I taught myself a couple of tricks. That when I went to courses of course." she added absent mindedly. "It was getting boring to doodle on my notebooks. I'm not good at drawing anyway..."

"So you skipped classes?" Sergio raised an eyebrow. "I heard you finished as the best in your year, were my sources wrong?" 

"What does being the best have to do with classes?" Alicia asked being amused and leaned slightly closer to Sergio. "Did you learn what you know at school, from your teachers, Professor?"

Sergio's gaze fell on the cheeky smirk on her lips. He did not try to hide it. 

Teasing and flirting and even kissing came naturally for them in these past couple of weeks, even if both of them agreed to take things lightly and slowly. Not because they did not have serious intentions regarding their potential relationship, but because it was fragile for multiple reasons. The hiding, their history, the lies, the backstabbing, the birth, the baby in the picture, Alicia's unpredictable behavior, basically everything they went through together did have a spike in it. Or at least that's what Alicia kept insisting about. Sergio got to the point where he stopped weighing the possibility of ending up stabbed in the back whenever they had to make a decision. Although, if he was entirely honest with himself, in case it would happen, he probably wouldn't be taken by surprise either. The wound on his leg was healing nicely. And he grew fond of the little Victoria. And as he saw it, she grew fond of him too. He also stopped worrying about waking up one morning realizing that he is alone in the house and won't ever see them again. One time it almost happened, and this still was one of his fears, but he did not have any real reason to worry.