EUNOIA ━ diego hargreeves

59

CHAPTER FIFTYNINE
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THEY TOOK the bus until its last stop. Diego held out a hand to Freya as she climbed down the stairs after him. Luther grinned as his brother nudged him. "We gave them hell back there, didn't we?"

"Just like the good old days."

"Better than the old days. We took out the CIA and won. Can't believe I ever wanted to work there, man," Diego sighed. "I'm ashamed."

"I'm ashamed," Freya said. "Ashamed of how hot I find you in a trench coat."

"Gross."

"Shut up," she and Diego both shot at Luther, who held his hands up in surrender.

"It just makes me feel like.. I've been sleepwalking through life. Recently, at least. I mean, all this shit? We were happy, weren't we?"

"Yeah," Freya said. "Look, I'm not going to lie. Having my powers back is definitely a plus. But running for our lives all the time again? I'm not a fan."

"So back to normalcy it is," Diego shrugged. "I thought I was missing something. Like, a great calling. I know that's not true now."

"Because the CIA crushed your government worker dreams?" She quipped.

Diego rolled his eyes. "Well, yeah. Sort of."

"Well, I'm still an aging stripper living alone in a condemned building," Luther mused.

"The offer to live with us still stands," Freya reminded him. "We have too much room."

Diego pointed a finger at his brother. "You can stay until Freya and I have another baby."

She scoffed. "We are not having this conversation again."

"Aw, cmon! Another Grace?!"

"Grace gives both of us such a headache every night that we have to take Tylenol before bed."

"Huh," he muttered. "Yeah. Good point. Hey, man. Don't be too hard on yourself. Which one of us just sniffed out a global conspiracy?"

Luther waved him off. "I got lucky."

"You're selling yourself short."

"Yeah. Five's been working there for years and he didn't even catch that. You got a big, fat win. And no one can take that away from you."

Diego ushered her forward, and Freya followed after him. The bus had taken them to a familiar neighborhood—one that was just around the block from their own. As they stepped up to the porch of the suburban house, Grace opened the door and lunged into Diego's arms.

Grace didn't have a lot of friends, but she did have one best friend—and one whose parents Freya trusted enough to let her stay at. Thankfully, Thalia didn't ask where they'd been or what had taken so long to pick Grace up, she only smiled and hugged Freya.

"How was she?"

"An angel," the mother sighed. "As always."

They scooped Grace up, met Luther back outside, and began the trek home.

"Mom, where's Wanda?"

"Oh, she's..." Freya trailed off. "In the shop."

"And why does Uncle Luther look so hairy?"

Diego snorted, and Luther snapped his head over. "It's better not to ask, Gracie."

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