4fter-hours - 4fter-Hours

@dozenrozez

THAT'S WHAT IT MEANS ... ... TO PUSH YOUR WILL IN A FIGHT.

NEVER-SURRENDER and ICARUSPLUNGED featuring jo togame and haruka sakura from wind breaker. grappled lovingly by jess and raine.

@never-surrender

"I love you."

"I-" she wanted to say that she just helped him with cases but that was a lie. They did more than work together these days now and she knew that. He was a huge part of her life now. But just caring for someone didn't just make them family, did it? Annie's words always threw her off, turned what she believed on its head, and made her question herself and this was no different. It always struck her how different it was to talk to her over her own godson. Orion would drag her into his interests, ask her a question, and be able to take the answer as she gave it, not question her or challenge her. Unless he was in a mood.

"Yeah, pasta is good." A small smile, mind still reeling from all that Annie had said. "Have you ever tried making it? You only need eggs and flour and you can make pasta in any shape you want." The subject of cooking was a safe topic they could focus on right now. "That sounds like an amazing!" Elizabeth said as she began to measure things out, listening to her recount the memory.

"Of course not," Elizabeth quickly wiped her hands on her apron and reached into her pocket for her phone. Chuckling, "No, I'm not a very good singer." She wasn't terrible but not great either. "When he gets better you can all go to karaoke as a celebration. I don't do well at those things." Turning the Bluetooth on, she began to scroll through music showing the screen to Annie looking for a playlist that fit the genres she was looking for. "What do you think of this one?"

The thing that amazed her the most about the girl was how well-rounded Annie was. "I can only imagine, it's never losing someone you care about, or cared about you." She knew that some people who were intelligent lacked emotionally, just like some who were intelligent emotionally lacked intelligence. Annie was well-rounded, still cared so much, and knew so much, it never seemed to compromise the other.

"You have an amazing family, you know that." It was said almost like wistful, longing. It never lacked love, it seemed whenever she heard Wally or Annie talk about everyone. "Yes, it spins," she pointed to the hand mixer paddles. "These, but we'll do it on low so you can used to it, first. Then we can turn it up slowly."

Putting all the ingredients into a bowl for Annie to mix, the words that she said from the book she read made her chuckle. It was after what she herself did, was it not? Lose herself in the stories of books, wishing she was the people on the pages she was reading and not the ghost of a girl the world had made her. "Well, it sounds like a good book and I'm sure that he will be excited to finish it with you when he's back home feeling better." Once she had always been the pessimist, always looking for the bad, waiting for the bad, accepting that it would all be bad but now, she hoped for the good. For good things to happen to good people, especially for the best one she knew.

The shake of the head made Elizabeth laugh. "Yeah, you and me both, amiguita. But he can't do much about who is hired there." Holding the bowl with one hand, she held the side of the mixer so Annie could hold the top. "Okay, now hold the top handle tightly and I'll press this button to start and once you get comfortable holding it I can make it go higher." But the words that Annie had said kept echoing in her head, as much as she told herself that she needed to let someone else lead on this, she couldn't. She needed to put her feelings aside as she usually did and put in the work. It was what she did, it was what she was best at. For a moment, she hesitated, she knew it might not be the best time to do this but the longer they waited the harder a lead would be to find.

It would have to be done carefully and, if danger was even remotely possible, she would be sure to drop it. So, with a slight hesitation, she asked. "Annie, would it be okay if we finished making cookies in a bit? I have to run to the bank and see a friend. I forgot about it, I'm sorry. It'll be a quick run." If the girl put up any sort of decline to go outside, she would let it be and just stay home and make cookies with the girl.

Her eyes widened at the revelation and hummed softly to herself. "He needs you too." A giggle and a hand in her mouth later she looked up and nodded. "He needs you. Mhmm. Family is all who care about him and that means you." The child nodded as if that was the most obvious. "We have that in common then." She grinned and quickly went back to her natural neutral state. "I don't think you're his friend. I think you're more."

"That seems so sad. To live like that. Maybe what you couldn't have before you can now have. It is never too late. I don't have allergies. Just get really tired out in the sun. Food is good. Any kind is good. Do you like pasta?" Her head was full of questions some that were to the point and others that came from left field.

She tried to think of any places she may have visited and then remembered one. "We went to Colima! I think that's what it is called. It was very nice. Uncle Wally got a waffle stuck in his nose at a restaurant. They called me guerita like my mama. I think they didn't think I'd know what that means. One night we saw monarcas at night. They were really beautiful." Happily so she nodded and clapped. "Yay. What do we do first?"

She stopped and stared at her. "If you wouldn't mind please. It'll be like he's still here. I don't. Usually we play shuffle and we get jazz or pop or rock. I like whatever has a good beat or has nice words. I bet you have a good singing voice you just haven't tried it. When he gets better you and him should go karaoke."

She stepped on the stool once it brought and giggled. "Thank you. I'm more sad for my tio Andy because he loved her very much. He lost a second mama." Her eyes sparkled with excitement doing something a big girl would do. "It shakes? That is funny. I do! Every Friday we have cooking nights. Sundays I do breakfast with tio wally. He makes waffles for me. But normally it's not always my mamas cooking. Sometimes its tia lulu or tia dia. Then its the boys turn to cook meals for everyone." She got reminded of a book then and gleefully nodded her head. "Yes. I picked up a book called The Lost Bookshop. We got to this part," she recited it from memory. "The thing about books,’ she said ‘is that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of.’ On a quiet street in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found. It's as far as tio wally got. Now," she sighed and shook out of her head. " I hate the people he works with."