A Small Glitch

She Needs Us

Anti sat at Dark's desk, a laptop opened in the center and pieces of paper covering the rest. He was scribbling something down as he listened to the audio playing.

"The child is to go to the next of kin." A deep voice said before there was a pounding sound.

"Next of kin, next of kin," Anti muttered as he shifted through his pages.

"Mommy!" Anti froze when he heard Annalise crying. He didn't have to see to know that she was being dragged away again. That poor girl.

"Anti?" Dark said as he peered through the cracked door, seeing his partner staring longingly at the laptop. "Anti?" He repeated when Anti began typing away, fingers gliding across the keys with ease. Dark stepped into his office, setting a plate of pasta on the desk. "You haven't eaten today." He was ignored as Anti continued typing. Dark signed before stabbing a couple of noodles on to a fork. He held the fork in front of Anti's face and the glitch ate from it without a second thought. It wasn't until a couple chews did he realize what just happened.

"Oh, hey Dark." Anti greeted, mouth still full.

"Swallow first." Dark sighed, resting one of his hands on the desk and the other on the back of the chair, leaning to see what Anti was doing.

"You love it when I swallow, don't you?" Anti teased after doing so.

"I'll be sure to remind you of that later," Dark whispered, grinning when Anti shivered a little. "Now, what is my little virus up to?" Anti rolled his eyes at the nickname, it was the only one Dark used and it wasn't that creative.

"This is Judy Hopkins..."

"It worked!" Anti clapped his hands when he heard a voice speaking. "Of course, it worked, I'm a hacking genius." He added with a smirk to Dark.

"Why-"

"Shush." Anti put a hand on Dark's face, knowing that glare he was getting would lead to something later as well.

"So, my good-for-nothing daughter finally gave up on that brat? Took her ass long enough." The woman who Anti knew was Annalise's grandmother, Elizabeth Barbetti, scoffed. "And, no. I'm not taking her in. I've dealt with enough unappreciative asses in my life." Dark could see how tense Anti was getting as the woman spoke. He took the hand that was still on him and held it, rubbing soothing circles with his thumb on the top of it.

"Do you know of any other-"

"Nope. No one wants her. Just shove her into an orphanage or something. Goodbye."

"But Ma'am..." Judy stopped when the dial tone went off. "What a bitch."

"Fucking whore," Anto growled.

"Why are you looking into Annalise?" Dark asked when he started reading the papers on his desk.

"I don't know. I just want to make sure that she's going to be okay." Anti admitted.

"The police-"

"The police are a bunch of dumb-fucks that don't care about a little girl!" Anti snapped.

"Do you honestly mean that?" Dark started to collect the papers.

"No...I..." Anti rubbed his face. "I don't know why, but I have this desire to take care of Annalise, something is clawing at me and begging me to make sure everything is fine, that she's happy and healthy."

"You're allowing your emotions to become unstable. Perhaps it's time for a recharge? You haven't done so in a while." Dark stated.

"I did it last night," Anti said, making Dark pause for a moment before he continued.