Clair de Lune

41. Family

I arrived to the kitchen early the next morning to find Sergei leaving the computer room, his eyes puffy with sleepless nights and his groggy smile filled with effort. I patted his shoulder, finally realizing that he was only a couple inches taller than me; it made me smile a little and my day was turned a bit brighter.

"Kelvin give you an early morning call?" I inquired.

"Early would be an understatement," he sighed, "I've been on the phone with him since six, we've been discussing the details for tomorrow morning."

"What's the plan?"

"Four trucks will be here in the morning, each one containing Skull and Bone members, and we'll be divided into each according to teams. You and Necro will be in the lead, and I'll be right behind you."

"Thank God," I whispered, "you know, I'm really glad you turned out to be different than what I originally thought. I feel like I can trust you on this, and I wouldn't want anyone else backing me. These people...you guys are my family."

"That means a lot to me, Agnes," He smiled, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and giving me a squeeze, "I never got the opportunity to make friends in that facility. I guess you could call me the odd one out of the bunch, but I just never...clicked. The reason why they put Marshall as my partner was because he was just as quiet and reclusive as I was."

"Quiet my ass," I turned to see Marshall walking in, a cigarette between his lips, "I'd start a shouting match every day."

"I thought you quit?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Countin' on tomorrow, I feel like I deserve it." He smiled, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Yeah, and those shouting matches would turn into old fashioned duels. Three paces, turn, and fire!" Sergei broke into laughter, mimicking the movements, "all with a bulletproof vest of course, but you were still better than everyone else."

"You're damn right I was!" Marshall grinned, "so, are the goons making rounds today or do we have a day to ourselves?"

"Kelvin said we have a day to ourselves," Sergei nodded, "I'm going to make up some waffles and O'Brien's, maybe we should bring the kids to the lake later?"

"You two sound like a pair of old croaks," I snorted as I smiled. Sergei chuckled along and Marshall made a sour face at me, but I couldn't be bothered, "the lake sounds nice, but we don't really have any swimsuits."

"What? Too embarrassed to go skinny dipping again?" Marshall broke into laughter and I sent a sharp jab into his ribs using my elbow.

"Skinny dipping?" Sergei raised an eyebrow, and I felt a blush begin to climb across my cheeks.

"I, uh, wanted to swim, and Lily took our clothes, and, um-"

"Our?"

"Her and Necro were out foolin' around in the water, I had to go fish them out of the lake." Marshall laughed even harder, and I shot him a glare.

"We weren't fooling around!"

"Sure you weren't sweetheart."

"Hey, if it makes you feel any better, I believe you." Sergei smiled and nudged me, and my bristling behavior relaxed slightly.

"I'll be back in when the food's ready, see you guys soon."

I took my leave and walked across the training room, my feet making small sounds as I treaded. A small smile spread across my cheeks and I turned to go down to the bedroom, passing by Murmur along the way. He reached up and tousled my hair playfully, throwing back a groggy grin as he headed toward the showers. I just shook my head and returned to my trail, one that led me to the bed of a sleeping figure. Necro was still hugging his pillow and drooling, meaning he wasn't waking up any time soon. I chuckled and just as I was about to climb into the blankets beside him, a figure across the room caught my eye. A dark outline crouching beside Osiris, it's hand tracing the small hieroglyph across her nose. I smiled and pretended not to see it, instead throwing the blankets up and snuggling into Necro's arms.