Change is good, unless it isn't

Chapter 11

Normani crouches down and pushes a strawberry into Tj's face until he pops his head back in his shell. Every fucking time. How Dinah gets him to eat, she'll never know. She sits in down in front of him and stares at him, hoping that'll somehow get him to eat it.

"Hey, Dinah?" She calls out loud enough for Dinah to hear her in the kitchen.

"Yes?"

She holds her breath as he starts to poke his head out but then immediately retracts. "If Tj lost his shell, would he be naked or homeless?"

"The spine is directly connected to the shell, so he'd be neither naked nor homeless. He'd be dead."

Normani laughs to herself. Clearly the joke went straight over Captain Literal's head. She stands and saunters into the kitchen to lean against the counter as Dinah zips up a second bag.

"You do realize it's ten degrees outside, right? I don't think we'll need a cooler."

"Not only are you incorrect about the temperature," she playfully grins and hands Normani both of the bags, "but these also aren't just for keeping things cold. They're insulated—meaning they can also keep things warm."

Normani gasps. "Really? I didn't know that, Doctor Smartypants. Please, tell me more."

Dinah pinches Normani's side. "I suppose we could stay here and discuss this if you'd like. But that just means," she leans over and briefly kisses Normani before barely pulling back, "you won't get to see what I have planned for you."

Normani clears her throat and pulls back. Being that close to Dinah is just too damn distracting to think about anything else. "Yeah, um...we can go. Yeah. Let's...let's go."

Dinah smirks as they start walking towards the door. She never imagined someone like Normani Kordei could be turned into a blubbering mess so easily.

Normani laces their hands together as soon as they step outside. "I can't believe my dad let you borrow his truck. He has never even let me drive it. My family obviously likes you more."

"That's highly doubtful. Your family loves you very much."

Normani holds her hand out for Dinah to take after she puts it in drive. She can barely make out Dinah profile in the dark, but she can still tell how beautiful she is, even now. She rubs her thumb across soft, pale knuckles. "They love you too, y'know."

Dinah smiles, but Normani can still see the doubt on her face. "Really. You're family as far as they're concerned."

Dinah briefly glances at her to see if Normani means it. Clearly, she does. She squeezes Normani's hand a little tighter as she looks back at the road. Even as a child she'd never really felt like part of a family. But here she is—being accepted and loved by people she had known for no more than five months.

They're already out of the city when Normani feels like Dinah has been lost in thought long enough. She turns the heat up a little more before clearing her throat. Startled, Dinah quickly snaps her attention over to Normani.

"Sorry. But where the hell are we going?" She makes sure to say it with a smile so it's not taken the wrong way.

Dinah exaggeratedly rolls her eyes and looks back at the road. "Patience really is a virtue, Jane."

"Well, 'let's hurry the fuck up and get there' is a virtue in my book. So," she leans over and pokes Dinah exactly where she's ticklish, "how about we stick to that one instead?"

Dinah squeals as she tries to squirm away from Normani's assault on her ribs. "We're here! Normani, we're—stop! Stop, I can't—we're here!"

Laughing, Normani pulls back enough to look out the windshield as Dinah pulls in an abandoned parking lot. If she wasn't a cop—and if she didn't trust Dinah with her life—she'd probably think this was a little shady. She looks over to Dinah and raises her eyebrows. "Exactly where is 'here'?"