Bean’s Writing

“Listen, buddy-” the man started, giving her one more squeeze before one of his hands slipped off of her. He held it in front of him, trying to placate Adrian, but it did no good. Adrian’s brow furrowed the moment the man squeezed her and before she could even blink, he reeled back and punched the man square in the jaw. 

He went down like a sack of potatoes.

She gasped and her hands flew to cover her mouth. 

“Adrian!” she said, reaching for the incensed man, trying to pull Adrian back as he moved towards the man who was cradling his bloody nose. He ignored her hands trying to tug him away as he glared down at the man.

“You don’t ever touch her again, ever. Do you understand me?” His voice was tight, as if he was fighting the urge to do something worse than punch the man, and even though she hadn’t been working with Adrian for more than eight months, she knew he could easily kill him for her, and the look on his face told her he wanted to.

“What the fuck man!” he cried. “You broke my nose!” 

“I should’ve broke your fucking hand,” Adrian spit out. “You don’t touch her, you don’t look at her, you don’t even fucking think about her. Do you understand me?”

“Jesus fucking Christ, yes!” he cried, the man's blue eyes frantic as he avoided looking at her. When Adrian finally looked at her, he was seething. 

“Come on,” he said firmly, grabbing her hand while she was still in shock to pull her out of the club. It was once he touched her that she snapped out of her daze, looking back at the man on the ground being helped up by someone else. 

Then she really comprehended what was happening. 

“Adrian!” she said, ripping her hand out of his grasp, and he looked at her eyes, his were wide and confused. 

“What?” he asked, eyes straining against the light. Clearly trying to understand why she was reacting the way she was.

“That was a fucking lead and you punched him!” she yelled, eyes flickering around to make sure no one was paying attention to them. “You weren’t doing your job! You were supposed to be at the bar watching my back and when I looked over you were gone! How was I supposed to signal you that I had found someone from the dossier?” 

“Him?” he asked, brows furrowed and even though they were no longer anywhere near that man he still tried looking behind her for him. “He’s not a target.”

“I swear to you, he was familiar! I think he was in the dossier!” 

“He’s not,” he said, firmly. She fought the urge to scream as she moved away from Adrian, making her way towards the elevator. “He looked nothing like any of the targets!” Adrian cried as she continued stomping away.

“Okay Adrian! I get it! I wasted my time, fucking move on!” she said as he kept pace with her. 

“I was just trying to protect you,” he said adamantly, keeping on her heels. 

“Okay!” she said, trying to get him to stop. She could feel her temper rising and she wanted nothing more than to just be away from him. 

“Your husband-” he started. 

“Adrian!” she cried, spinning on her heel to face him. “Jesus! I’m not your wife! We have nothing Adrian! Nothing! Do you realize that?” she yelled, she waited a beat before she couldn’t stand looking at him anymore and she continued walking away from him. She could hear him keeping pace with her. As annoying as it was, she was glad she could keep yelling at him. “Our first lead this entire week! You might think he wasn’t in the dossier, but I do, and you didn’t let me do my job! Plus, you punched him, so even if I found him later, he probably wouldn’t talk to me at all!”

“He was touching your ass, sorry for playing the part of your HUSBAND!” he yelled. She pulled at her hair, not understanding why he wasn’t listening to her. 

“Adrian! Are you listening to yourself? You’re not my husband! This isn’t a real honeymoon! We are undercover for our jobs, and I know that to you, your job is all fun and games, but I do care about my job and doing good work. The last thing I need is to lose my job because you don’t know how to act during an undercover mission!” He stepped back like she had physically hit him, there’s something in his expression that makes her feel ill. 

“Right, that’s all this is,” he muttered, and something twists in her. 

“Yes, Adrian. This is my job, I’m trying to do my job. You should fucking try it sometime,” she snapped making her way towards the elevator. He still followed her, a little less close this time, but at least he was silent as they got into the elevator. He remained silent as she hit their floor number and the elevator closed and started moving.

The elevator shook and Adrian gasped next to her, his hand grabbing hers tightly. 

“What was that?” 

“Adrian, don’t start,” she said, rubbing her eyes with her other hand, not finding it in herself to pull her hand out of his yet. All she wanted was to be back in the room and to lock herself in the bathroom. Anything to get away from him for just five minutes. The elevator shook again and out of the corner of her eye she saw him pull out a knife from god knows where. “Jesus Christ, put that away,” she said, hand on his arm as he held it steady and pointed out as he glanced all around the elevator. 

“It’s a trap,” he hissed. 

“It is not, Adrian! None of this is a trap because there’s no way this is even a fucking mission at this point. We’re going back with nothing, and you’ll be fine because you’re tight with everyone, and I’m going to lose my fucking job because I’m a bad agent who can’t even handle a simple under cover mission!” she said her voice shrill even to her own ears, quick to swipe away any tears. She knew she was weak but she didn’t need Adrian to see it even more. 

Before he could say anything, the elevator shuttered back to life, jerking the two as Adrian put his knife back wherever he had grabbed it from.

“See, not a trap,” she grumbled as she released his hand and headed towards the room, her brain still swimming.

The door slammed behind Adrian as she pulled out the dossier, ripping out pages and fighting the urge to scream. She laid everything out on the bed, attempting to take any of it in a new light. 

“This makes no fucking sense!” she cried as she took a step back from the dossier she had spread on the bed. 

“Maybe, we’re missing a page?” Adrian tried, eyebrows tight on his forehead as he looked at the pages with a frown. 

“We’re not missing a page, they’re numbered. Maybe Harcourt left something out? Did she make this instead of Chris?” 

“Chris didn’t say, but I’d assume Chris, based on some of the misspelling.” Adrian said with a hum. She frowned and took a step back.

“I’m calling Harcourt, I know Chris said to limit contact, but we need something,” she said as she clicked Emilia’s contact. She answered on the third ring. 

“Hey, lover girl. How’s your getaway with Vig going?” she said with a teasing tone, and she felt heat creep up her neck, immediately regretting the fact she had her on speaker phone. 

“Listen, Emilia, we’re really stuck here. We think we might be missing a page in the dossier or something. Do you know anything about our main target’s connection to this place?” she said, practically begging for an answer as Emilia stayed silent on the line. “Just anything we can use. We’re running out of time.” 

“What do you mean dossier?” Emilia asked after a beat.

“I know, Chris’s dossiers are terrible, hence this mess, and you can barely call it a dossier but we are really lost, right now and could use-”

“Why do you have a dossier? You two are on PTO,” Harcourt said and she froze, looking over at Adrian.

“No, we’re on a mission. Chris sent us here to bust a drug ring,” she said slowly, the gears in her head starting to turn as she realized what was happening. 

“I’m telling you now that you’re on PTO, there’s no mission,” Harcourt repeated back, just as slow as she did, in almost a mocking tone. “Now go enjoy a margarita for me and please keep track of how many times Adrian says something stupid. I have a bet with Ads that he’s going to ruin this before you even give him a real chance.” Harcourt hung up and left her staring at Adrian who looked at her clearly waiting for her reaction. 

“Call Chris,” she said tensely, and Adrian looked at her with wild eyes as he got his phone out and called Chris. “Speaker,” she said, and Adrian listened.

“Yo, Vig. What’s up?” Chris said she could hear video games in the background, she gritted her teeth as she nodded at Adrian to answer him. 

“Hey, Peacemaker! I was uhhh just wondering if you had any information about our target?” Adrian asked, eyes wide and on her. Her eyes were locked on his phone. 

“Target? What are you talking about?” Chris asked, and Adrian frowned. 

“The mission - the dossier you gave us?” Adrian asked, looking at her. 

“Oh, that…fuck Vig, you’ve been taking that seriously? That was just an excuse to get you guys to the resort - I figured you guys would’ve figured out that it was bullshit immediately. Like on the plane like instantly. I made it all up, just copy and pasted shit from old dossiers.” 

“Why the fuck are we on a fake mission, Chris!” she said, snatching the phone from Adrian. 

“What do you mean why the fuck are you on a fake mission where you guys have to be lovey-dovey? I thought it would finally get you guys fucking started! Do you know how exhausting it’s been watching you two for six months?” Chris said, as if they had truly been inconveniencing the man with their crushes and silent looks.

“That’s fucking insane!” she cried. 

“I’m so sorry for trying to help my friend hook up with the girl he’s clearly in love with and the girl who stares at him all day and acts like he hung the stars in the sky!” 

“I’m going to hang up now,” she said coolly, not giving Chris a chance to say anything as she kept her gaze locked on Adrian, who looked like he was about to be sick. “Adrian, have you actually liked me this entire time?” she asked gently, and she watched him bite his cheek. 

“I need you to define ‘liked’ and ‘this entire time’,” he settled on, and she groaned, throwing herself on the plush bed with all the papers covered in lies that had been haunting her this entire fake mission. She was no longer able to even look at Adrian, she was so frustrated. He had put her feelings through the ringer all week, only for her to find out that he had felt the same way. Apparently he had felt this way long enough for Christopher Smith of all people to try to help him out and set them up.  

“You’ve liked me this whole time? Adrian, I’ve been thinking this is all pretend, and it’s been fucking with my head!” she yelled at him, moving her eyes from the ceiling to not miss his reaction, and she watched him throw his hands up in the air and begin pacing. 

“I thought it was part of the mission! I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable like I’m some creep! I’m a feminist! Same thing when we’re at work! I’m not trying to harass you…ya know sexually!” he said back, eyes wide and wild. 

“You thought me sitting in your lap on an empty beach was part of the mission?” she said, sitting up, as annoyed as she felt she couldn’t help but be endeared by Adrian’s clear panic. “We both knew we weren’t going to spot a single target!”

“Yeah, a really fucking good part of the mission, I jerked off in the bathroom that night thinking about that!”

“Adrian!” 

“What! I fucking did! Or should we go back to lying?” he said, his tone wild as he leaned over towards her. She sighed as she watched his chest heave. His face was red, and his eyes were still having a hard time focusing on her. It was then she realized that Adrian was feeling angry or frustrated like she was - but where she was upset that they both had been so blind to the other’s feelings, he was borderlining a panic attack. 

“Adrian,” she said softly, standing up so she could wrap him up in her arms. He stayed stiff for a beat, just a second, before he melted against her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her tightly against him. 

“I don’t want to go back to lying,” he murmured into the top of her head, and she sighed. 

“This is insane,” she said, still not over what Chris had done. 

“When have our friends ever been sane,” he whispered, shaking his head. 

She sighed, letting herself close her eyes as she tried to digest any of this. It was absolutely insane that Chris would do this to his friend and his coworker, but there was a part of her that was thankful for Chris’s stupidity and dumbass plans. 

“Remember the first night?” he asked, suddenly out of the blue. When she tilted her head, confusion over her features Adrian kept going. “When you asked me what my number one fear is?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s losing you. Well it’s losing everyone, but the more time we spend together, it’s you. The idea that one day, everyone could just be gone? That I could fuck up and lose everyone, especially after how long it took for me to have friends? and you? Whatever you call this where I pine for you and I'm your annoying colleague at worst and work friend at best? I'll take it, as long as I get to have you in my life it's worth it. So losing you terrifies me more than anything,” he said, his face open and vulnerable as his eyes searched her face, almost desperately. 

“Oh, Ade.” she said softly. 

“I’m serious, you’re…you’re everything to me.” 

“You-”

“From the moment you interviewed, I liked you, and I liked you even more when you started putting sour candy on your desk and you were always nice to me and you laugh at my jokes like you mean it and I just…I love you.”

“Adrian,” she said, her breath caught in her throat as she searched for any inch of lying on his face, but she couldn’t find any. 

“Is that too insane? Too much?” he said immediately, looking panicked. “If I had known Chris’ plan, I would’ve planned a way better speech and ran it by Ads too to make sure it was good and I didn’t say anything stupid. But then again if I knew Chris’ plan I would’ve told you immediately because we’ve been working when we should’ve been relaxing. Even if you don’t like me back we could’ve just had a normal vacation. God, I’m so sorry he did this.”

“No…it’s not insane,” she whispered, moving closer to him. A smile broke out on his face as his hands went to her waist, squeezing her gently. 

“Yeah?”

“Love is…a lot for right now,” she said, his smile twitching for just a second. “But I do really like you Adrian. This whole mission has been torture because all I wanted was for all this to be real. For you to look at me and for it to be real and I just…”

“It’s always been real,” he said, voice almost sounding hoarse. “The way I look about you and think about you. I wasn’t acting, if anything I’ve been selfish this whole time.” 

“The way I’ve been with you, it’s been real too,” she said, voice shaking. 

“I am sorry,” he said, suddenly sounding rueful as she looked at him. Confusion all over her features. “For not being there when you needed me, I should’ve been watching and making sure you were safe. I want to do that, not only for missions but outside of all this,” he said, fidgeting with his hands, his face almost looking like he was in pain. 

“It’s okay,” she whispered, realizing how hard Adrian must’ve taken her words. 

“It’s not,” he said, voice firm. “But I’d like to make it up to you if you’ll let me,” he asked, his green eyes never wavering from her eyes. His intensity made her start to well up, this whole time it had been eating her up inside not knowing where she stood with Adrian and to find out that he cared the same for her, if not more, was almost too much. 

“I think I can find it in me to let you try,” she teased and Adrian let out a huff. “And I’m sorry too, I shouldn’t have blown up at you.” 

“Nah, it was hot and I deserved it,” he said, finally a smile crossing his features as he took a step closer to her. 

“Well, either way I’m still sorry,” she whispered as Adrian’s smile grew, his hand coming up to cup her cheek, wiping away a tear. 

“Can I kiss you? Please can I kiss you?” he begged, and she let out a watery laugh. 

“Yes, Adrian. You can kiss me,” she said and he took no time to cup both her cheeks as he was quick to smash their lips together. As far as first kisses went, it was clunky, awkward, a little too much teeth from Adrian, but she wouldn’t change it for the world. 

All because it was real.

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“Listen, buddy-” the man started, giving her one more squeeze before one of his hands slipped off of her. He held it in front of him, trying to placate Adrian, but it did no good. Adrian’s brow furrowed the moment the man squeezed her and before she could even blink, he reeled back and punched the man square in the jaw. 

He went down like a sack of potatoes.

She gasped and her hands flew to cover her mouth. 

“Adrian!” she said, reaching for the incensed man, trying to pull Adrian back as he moved towards the man who was cradling his bloody nose. He ignored her hands trying to tug him away as he glared down at the man.

“You don’t ever touch her again, ever. Do you understand me?” His voice was tight, as if he was fighting the urge to do something worse than punch the man, and even though she hadn’t been working with Adrian for more than eight months, she knew he could easily kill him for her, and the look on his face told her he wanted to.

“What the fuck man!” he cried. “You broke my nose!” 

“I should’ve broke your fucking hand,” Adrian spit out. “You don’t touch her, you don’t look at her, you don’t even fucking think about her. Do you understand me?”

“Jesus fucking Christ, yes!” he cried, the man's blue eyes frantic as he avoided looking at her. When Adrian finally looked at her, he was seething. 

“Come on,” he said firmly, grabbing her hand while she was still in shock to pull her out of the club. It was once he touched her that she snapped out of her daze, looking back at the man on the ground being helped up by someone else. 

Then she really comprehended what was happening. 

“Adrian!” she said, ripping her hand out of his grasp, and he looked at her eyes, his were wide and confused. 

“What?” he asked, eyes straining against the light. Clearly trying to understand why she was reacting the way she was.

“That was a fucking lead and you punched him!” she yelled, eyes flickering around to make sure no one was paying attention to them. “You weren’t doing your job! You were supposed to be at the bar watching my back and when I looked over you were gone! How was I supposed to signal you that I had found someone from the dossier?” 

“Him?” he asked, brows furrowed and even though they were no longer anywhere near that man he still tried looking behind her for him. “He’s not a target.”

“I swear to you, he was familiar! I think he was in the dossier!” 

“He’s not,” he said, firmly. She fought the urge to scream as she moved away from Adrian, making her way towards the elevator. “He looked nothing like any of the targets!” Adrian cried as she continued stomping away.

“Okay Adrian! I get it! I wasted my time, fucking move on!” she said as he kept pace with her. 

“I was just trying to protect you,” he said adamantly, keeping on her heels. 

“Okay!” she said, trying to get him to stop. She could feel her temper rising and she wanted nothing more than to just be away from him. 

“Your husband-” he started. 

“Adrian!” she cried, spinning on her heel to face him. “Jesus! I’m not your wife! We have nothing Adrian! Nothing! Do you realize that?” she yelled, she waited a beat before she couldn’t stand looking at him anymore and she continued walking away from him. She could hear him keeping pace with her. As annoying as it was, she was glad she could keep yelling at him. “Our first lead this entire week! You might think he wasn’t in the dossier, but I do, and you didn’t let me do my job! Plus, you punched him, so even if I found him later, he probably wouldn’t talk to me at all!”

“He was touching your ass, sorry for playing the part of your HUSBAND!” he yelled. She pulled at her hair, not understanding why he wasn’t listening to her. 

“Adrian! Are you listening to yourself? You’re not my husband! This isn’t a real honeymoon! We are undercover for our jobs, and I know that to you, your job is all fun and games, but I do care about my job and doing good work. The last thing I need is to lose my job because you don’t know how to act during an undercover mission!” He stepped back like she had physically hit him, there’s something in his expression that makes her feel ill. 

“Right, that’s all this is,” he muttered, and something twists in her. 

“Yes, Adrian. This is my job, I’m trying to do my job. You should fucking try it sometime,” she snapped making her way towards the elevator. He still followed her, a little less close this time, but at least he was silent as they got into the elevator. He remained silent as she hit their floor number and the elevator closed and started moving.

The elevator shook and Adrian gasped next to her, his hand grabbing hers tightly. 

“What was that?” 

“Adrian, don’t start,” she said, rubbing her eyes with her other hand, not finding it in herself to pull her hand out of his yet. All she wanted was to be back in the room and to lock herself in the bathroom. Anything to get away from him for just five minutes. The elevator shook again and out of the corner of her eye she saw him pull out a knife from god knows where. “Jesus Christ, put that away,” she said, hand on his arm as he held it steady and pointed out as he glanced all around the elevator. 

“It’s a trap,” he hissed. 

“It is not, Adrian! None of this is a trap because there’s no way this is even a fucking mission at this point. We’re going back with nothing, and you’ll be fine because you’re tight with everyone, and I’m going to lose my fucking job because I’m a bad agent who can’t even handle a simple under cover mission!” she said her voice shrill even to her own ears, quick to swipe away any tears. She knew she was weak but she didn’t need Adrian to see it even more. 

Before he could say anything, the elevator shuttered back to life, jerking the two as Adrian put his knife back wherever he had grabbed it from.

“See, not a trap,” she grumbled as she released his hand and headed towards the room, her brain still swimming.

The door slammed behind Adrian as she pulled out the dossier, ripping out pages and fighting the urge to scream. She laid everything out on the bed, attempting to take any of it in a new light. 

“This makes no fucking sense!” she cried as she took a step back from the dossier she had spread on the bed. 

“Maybe, we’re missing a page?” Adrian tried, eyebrows tight on his forehead as he looked at the pages with a frown. 

“We’re not missing a page, they’re numbered. Maybe Harcourt left something out? Did she make this instead of Chris?” 

“Chris didn’t say, but I’d assume Chris, based on some of the misspelling.” Adrian said with a hum. She frowned and took a step back.

“I’m calling Harcourt, I know Chris said to limit contact, but we need something,” she said as she clicked Emilia’s contact. She answered on the third ring. 

“Hey, lover girl. How’s your getaway with Vig going?” she said with a teasing tone, and she felt heat creep up her neck, immediately regretting the fact she had her on speaker phone. 

“Listen, Emilia, we’re really stuck here. We think we might be missing a page in the dossier or something. Do you know anything about our main target’s connection to this place?” she said, practically begging for an answer as Emilia stayed silent on the line. “Just anything we can use. We’re running out of time.” 

“What do you mean dossier?” Emilia asked after a beat.

“I know, Chris’s dossiers are terrible, hence this mess, and you can barely call it a dossier but we are really lost, right now and could use-”

“Why do you have a dossier? You two are on PTO,” Harcourt said and she froze, looking over at Adrian.

“No, we’re on a mission. Chris sent us here to bust a drug ring,” she said slowly, the gears in her head starting to turn as she realized what was happening. 

“I’m telling you now that you’re on PTO, there’s no mission,” Harcourt repeated back, just as slow as she did, in almost a mocking tone. “Now go enjoy a margarita for me and please keep track of how many times Adrian says something stupid. I have a bet with Ads that he’s going to ruin this before you even give him a real chance.” Harcourt hung up and left her staring at Adrian who looked at her clearly waiting for her reaction. 

“Call Chris,” she said tensely, and Adrian looked at her with wild eyes as he got his phone out and called Chris. “Speaker,” she said, and Adrian listened.

“Yo, Vig. What’s up?” Chris said she could hear video games in the background, she gritted her teeth as she nodded at Adrian to answer him. 

“Hey, Peacemaker! I was uhhh just wondering if you had any information about our target?” Adrian asked, eyes wide and on her. Her eyes were locked on his phone. 

“Target? What are you talking about?” Chris asked, and Adrian frowned. 

“The mission - the dossier you gave us?” Adrian asked, looking at her. 

“Oh, that…fuck Vig, you’ve been taking that seriously? That was just an excuse to get you guys to the resort - I figured you guys would’ve figured out that it was bullshit immediately. Like on the plane like instantly. I made it all up, just copy and pasted shit from old dossiers.” 

“Why the fuck are we on a fake mission, Chris!” she said, snatching the phone from Adrian. 

“What do you mean why the fuck are you on a fake mission where you guys have to be lovey-dovey? I thought it would finally get you guys fucking started! Do you know how exhausting it’s been watching you two for six months?” Chris said, as if they had truly been inconveniencing the man with their crushes and silent looks.

“That’s fucking insane!” she cried. 

“I’m so sorry for trying to help my friend hook up with the girl he’s clearly in love with and the girl who stares at him all day and acts like he hung the stars in the sky!” 

“I’m going to hang up now,” she said coolly, not giving Chris a chance to say anything as she kept her gaze locked on Adrian, who looked like he was about to be sick. “Adrian, have you actually liked me this entire time?” she asked gently, and she watched him bite his cheek. 

“I need you to define ‘liked’ and ‘this entire time’,” he settled on, and she groaned, throwing herself on the plush bed with all the papers covered in lies that had been haunting her this entire fake mission. She was no longer able to even look at Adrian, she was so frustrated. He had put her feelings through the ringer all week, only for her to find out that he had felt the same way. Apparently he had felt this way long enough for Christopher Smith of all people to try to help him out and set them up.  

“You’ve liked me this whole time? Adrian, I’ve been thinking this is all pretend, and it’s been fucking with my head!” she yelled at him, moving her eyes from the ceiling to not miss his reaction, and she watched him throw his hands up in the air and begin pacing. 

“I thought it was part of the mission! I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable like I’m some creep! I’m a feminist! Same thing when we’re at work! I’m not trying to harass you…ya know sexually!” he said back, eyes wide and wild. 

“You thought me sitting in your lap on an empty beach was part of the mission?” she said, sitting up, as annoyed as she felt she couldn’t help but be endeared by Adrian’s clear panic. “We both knew we weren’t going to spot a single target!”

“Yeah, a really fucking good part of the mission, I jerked off in the bathroom that night thinking about that!”

“Adrian!” 

“What! I fucking did! Or should we go back to lying?” he said, his tone wild as he leaned over towards her. She sighed as she watched his chest heave. His face was red, and his eyes were still having a hard time focusing on her. It was then she realized that Adrian was feeling angry or frustrated like she was - but where she was upset that they both had been so blind to the other’s feelings, he was borderlining a panic attack. 

“Adrian,” she said softly, standing up so she could wrap him up in her arms. He stayed stiff for a beat, just a second, before he melted against her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her tightly against him. 

“I don’t want to go back to lying,” he murmured into the top of her head, and she sighed. 

“This is insane,” she said, still not over what Chris had done. 

“When have our friends ever been sane,” he whispered, shaking his head. 

She sighed, letting herself close her eyes as she tried to digest any of this. It was absolutely insane that Chris would do this to his friend and his coworker, but there was a part of her that was thankful for Chris’s stupidity and dumbass plans. 

“Remember the first night?” he asked, suddenly out of the blue. When she tilted her head, confusion over her features Adrian kept going. “When you asked me what my number one fear is?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s losing you. Well it’s losing everyone, but the more time we spend together, it’s you. The idea that one day, everyone could just be gone? That I could fuck up and lose everyone, especially after how long it took for me to have friends? and you? Whatever you call this where I pine for you and I'm your annoying colleague at worst and work friend at best? I'll take it, as long as I get to have you in my life it's worth it. So losing you terrifies me more than anything,” he said, his face open and vulnerable as his eyes searched her face, almost desperately. 

“Oh, Ade.” she said softly. 

“I’m serious, you’re…you’re everything to me.” 

“You-”

“From the moment you interviewed, I liked you, and I liked you even more when you started putting sour candy on your desk and you were always nice to me and you laugh at my jokes like you mean it and I just…I love you.”

“Adrian,” she said, her breath caught in her throat as she searched for any inch of lying on his face, but she couldn’t find any. 

“Is that too insane? Too much?” he said immediately, looking panicked. “If I had known Chris’ plan, I would’ve planned a way better speech and ran it by Ads too to make sure it was good and I didn’t say anything stupid. But then again if I knew Chris’ plan I would’ve told you immediately because we’ve been working when we should’ve been relaxing. Even if you don’t like me back we could’ve just had a normal vacation. God, I’m so sorry he did this.”

“No…it’s not insane,” she whispered, moving closer to him. A smile broke out on his face as his hands went to her waist, squeezing her gently. 

“Yeah?”

“Love is…a lot for right now,” she said, his smile twitching for just a second. “But I do really like you Adrian. This whole mission has been torture because all I wanted was for all this to be real. For you to look at me and for it to be real and I just…”

“It’s always been real,” he said, voice almost sounding hoarse. “The way I look about you and think about you. I wasn’t acting, if anything I’ve been selfish this whole time.” 

“The way I’ve been with you, it’s been real too,” she said, voice shaking. 

“I am sorry,” he said, suddenly sounding rueful as she looked at him. Confusion all over her features. “For not being there when you needed me, I should’ve been watching and making sure you were safe. I want to do that, not only for missions but outside of all this,” he said, fidgeting with his hands, his face almost looking like he was in pain. 

“It’s okay,” she whispered, realizing how hard Adrian must’ve taken her words. 

“It’s not,” he said, voice firm. “But I’d like to make it up to you if you’ll let me,” he asked, his green eyes never wavering from her eyes. His intensity made her start to well up, this whole time it had been eating her up inside not knowing where she stood with Adrian and to find out that he cared the same for her, if not more, was almost too much. 

“I think I can find it in me to let you try,” she teased and Adrian let out a huff. “And I’m sorry too, I shouldn’t have blown up at you.” 

“Nah, it was hot and I deserved it,” he said, finally a smile crossing his features as he took a step closer to her. 

“Well, either way I’m still sorry,” she whispered as Adrian’s smile grew, his hand coming up to cup her cheek, wiping away a tear. 

“Can I kiss you? Please can I kiss you?” he begged, and she let out a watery laugh. 

“Yes, Adrian. You can kiss me,” she said and he took no time to cup both her cheeks as he was quick to smash their lips together. As far as first kisses went, it was clunky, awkward, a little too much teeth from Adrian, but she wouldn’t change it for the world. 

All because it was real.

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He hears dresser drawers opening and closing, hears the ensuite shower running, hears the rustling afterward as you pull your pajamas on and adjust the covers.

He doesn’t deserve to sleep in bed beside you tonight, but he’s a selfish bastard. Once you fall silent, once you’re lying in bed alone, he creaks open the door carefully and waits. If you yell at him—if you tell him to stay away—then he will. He’ll sleep on the floor right here outside the door.

You don’t shout. You don’t even look up. He knows you’re not asleep yet, but you stay quiet anyway, and don’t protest or kick him the hell out when he slides beneath the covers next to you. He lets out a shaky exhale of relief. You’re mad, yes, and maybe you haven’t forgiven him, but—you still love him enough, trust him enough, to let him into your nest. He hasn’t fucked this up beyond repair.

But then you roll onto your side, away from him. Putting distance between your bodies, instead of curling into him like you usually do. And he knows he has a lot of apologizing to do for what he did tonight. The things he said.

He swallows past the lump in his throat and lays down next to you, facing in your direction, watching the rise and fall of your back as you breathe. He chokes down a desperate plea for forgiveness he doesn’t deserve right now, and then he flops onto his back and stares at the ceiling, hating himself, until sheer exhaustion lulls him to sleep.

You aren’t in bed when Adrian wakes up in the morning.

He’s moved in his sleep, subconsciously scooted closer to your side of the bed. His arm is draped over the empty space where you slept, hand clutching at the sheets, hugging your pillow to his chest instead of you. His heart twists violently, and he’s struck with the same terrible fear and guilt that he felt last night as the memory of your argument rushes back.

But—you’re still here. Still home, at least. Adrian sits up and strains to listen through the tiny crack of the open bedroom door. He can hear you padding around the kitchen, something sizzling in a frying pan, the clatter of plates as you take them out of the cabinets.

He gets up and walks toward the sound. You immediately look up at him when he enters the kitchen, and he stops in his tracks like a spooked animal. If you want him to, he’ll turn right around and walk back to the bedroom. Give you some space.

But then he realizes—there are two plates in front of you. And you’re loading them up with chocolate chip pancakes, his favorite. Something hopeful lights up inside him as you push a plate across the counter in his direction hesitantly. Your guard is still up, and it kills him. That you feel like you have to be on guard around him.

“I’m sorry,” he blurts, eyes welling with tears as he stares at your chocolate-chip-pancake olive branch. You’re offering him a grace right now that he doesn’t feel like he deserves. “I’m—I’m—I didn’t mean to—command you, or control you, like that, baby, I didn’t—I’m so sorry—” His voice cracks.

Your face softens a bit when you see how torn up about it he is.

“I know you didn’t mean it,” you say. “I know that, Alpha. But—” You bite your lip. “But you still did.”

“I’m sorry,” he repeats, a broken whisper. “For—for doing that, for yelling, for all of it. I don’t want to fight. Not with you. I’ll fight the rest of the world with my bare hands every day for the rest of my life, I’ll kill anyone I have to, as long as I get to come home to you at the end of the day, I never want you to doubt that, I—”

“I don’t doubt that you love me, Adrian. I have never doubted that.” You pause and let that sink in, easing some of the tension in his shoulders.

Adrian watches you talk with wide, wet eyes and a trembling lower lip. Because he knows that whatever you’re feeling, it’s not that simple. And he’s not emotionally intelligent enough to read your mind, not when it comes to things like this. So he stays quiet and waits.

“I do doubt sometimes that…that you trust me,” you finally say hesitantly. 

“What?”

“You fight for us all the time,” you say. “I love that you fight for what you think is right all the time. It’s one of my favorite things about you. You go out on patrols because you want to make our city, our home, safer. You go out on missions because you want to make the whole world safer. You are fighting, all the time, for me and our pack and the whole fucking universe. But you don’t trust me to fight with you.”

“That’s not—” Adrian protests, but you hold a hand up and his mouth snaps shut.

“I was so…” You pause and try to puzzle the words out. “I went on that mission with Emilia, and I felt more important, more useful, than I have in months. I felt good. And I came back and all I wanted was for you to be proud of me, but instead you were mad at me.”

You go quiet and look at Adrian expectantly, and he realizes it’s his turn to talk. He takes a moment to process what you said, turning his own response over in his mind before speaking.

“I was terrified yesterday,” he says. “When I got back to the office and I couldn’t find you, and then—when Economos said you were—I just kept turning over every possibility in my mind. Everything that could go wrong. You being hurt, and me not being there.”

“I live like that all the time,” you point out. “I watch you walk out into the field and pull risky stunts and get yourself shot constantly.”

“It’s different,” he starts. “I can heal. And you know where I am. I always, always tell you. The not knowing—” He swallows roughly. “That kills me.”

“That’s fair,” you allow. “I should have told you. I’m sorry. I knew that you would freak out, and it would distract you on your mission, and I didn’t want you to get hurt. So I chose not to tell you, and that made everything worse. I won’t do that again. I promise.”

“You won’t go on another mission?”

“That is not what I said,” you say. “I am not going to sit back. Not on this.”

“The rest of us have it handled,” Adrian insists.

“You aren’t listening to me,” you say sharply. “Adrian, I am not just…a prize you get for doing a good job. I’m not going to stay here shrouded in bubble wrap while the rest of you fight. If I am needed out in the field—and I am needed out in the field, at least until Fleury gets back on his feet—I will go. I want to, and I deserve to, fight for our future and the future of our pack just like you do.”

Adrian is quiet for a moment as he soaks in your words.

“You do deserve to fight,” he says. “But I also need you to tell me when you do. The not knowing…I can’t live like that.”

“You’re right,” you admit. “When I’m out on a mission—I won’t keep it from you. You’ll know where I am. I’ll text you updates, the same way that you text me while you’re gone. I’m sorry, baby. I was trying to keep you from worrying, and I just made everything worse. I promise I won’t do that again, okay?”

“Okay.” Adrian swallows. He’s already apologized, but—he needs to say it again. “I’m sorry, too. For freaking out. For yelling at you. For commanding you last night. I never wanted—I never wanted to be like my brother, and here I am being—”

You sigh. “You’re not like Gut, Adrian. You’re not. I know you’re not. You did something hurtful to me last night, and I just—lashed out. I said something hurtful because I knew it would hurt you. You’re a good man, and a good Alpha. I just need you to…loosen up, a little bit.”

“Okay,” he whispers.

“Are we okay?” you check, and Adrian hates how hesitant you sound.

“We’re okay,” he says softly. “We’re more than okay. I love you.”

Your hand comes up to his face, fingers carding through the hair at the nape of his neck, and you tilt your chin up. He takes the invitation, leaning down to kiss you, deep and thorough, roughly hauling you up into his arms. Your legs wrapping around his waist. He’s hard, pressing insistently against your center as he speed-walks to the bedroom and shoves you down onto the bed.

Adrian strips off your clothes and touches every inch of skin he can reach, silently reassuring himself that you’re here with him, that you aren’t hurt. Then he rips his own clothes off and chucks them aside, wearing an expression you’ve never seen before. Some complex mix of desire and fury. But still, when he grabs at your hips and pulls you against him, he waits. You nod, but he shakes his head.

“Words, Omega,” he says, voice rough. “Because I’m not in the mood to play nice right now.”

The tip of his cock drags through your wetness, and you lift your hips until he notches at your entrance.

“Fuck me,” you say. “Do it. I can take it, I can—”

Adrian shoves inside you in a rough thrust, manhandling you in a way he never has before. You gasp at the sudden intrusion and clutch at the bedsheets, as he rails into you, deep, erratic thrusts that light your nerves on fire and have him grunting like an animal.

You touch him right back, but it’s not the soft touch he’s used to. It’s your nails dragging down his back, it’s you biting at his lips, it’s your fingers gripping him so hard that he thinks you might actually leave a bruise that lasts, for once. It feels like you’re still fighting him, here in your bed, even as your legs wrap around his waist and drag him in deeper.

“Never again,” he grunts, eyes watery and red. “You are never fucking doing that to me again, do you hear me?”

Every touch makes him feel desperate. He’s never loved anyone or anything the way he loves you, he thinks, as you find your release and your head tilts back. His eyes land on your neck, on your mating mark, and he can’t help himself. As he comes, his teeth sink in, break the skin all over again, because some Alpha part of him needs to remind you who you fucking belong to.

You’d made him a promise, today. That you wouldn’t go on a mission without telling him again. He’s just grateful you didn’t ask him to make any promises in return.

Because if you did, he’s not sure he’d be able to keep them. And he thinks you can tell.

Things between you and Adrian still feel raw when you return to work on Monday. Adrian is itching to reach for your hand to hold, but…you didn’t let him open the car door for you like he usually does. You just got out and started walking.

You might have apologized to each other, you might have tried to fuck it out of your systems, but the underlying tension that caused the whole blowup argument is still there, simmering, volatile, just beneath the surface of your every interaction.

It doesn’t help that everyone stares at the two of you as you walk in the door.

“Fleury,” you say, when you see him seated at his desk. “What the hell are you doing here? You got shot a couple days ago.”

“Last time you got shot, you and Adrian had a midnight rendezvous in the middle of his first rut,” Fleury retorts. “I think I’ll survive sitting at my desk for a bit.”

“Hmph,” you mutter. “Come on. My office. Let me look you over, at least.”

“Good thing he’s in a rolling chair, huh?” Ads says brightly, trying desperately to erase the tense atmosphere that followed you and Adrian like a stormy cloud. She starts pushing Fleury in the direction of the infirmary.

Adrian watches you walk away, pressing his lips together in a thin line.

Chris walks up to him, a little wary. “Hey man. All good?”

“All good,” Adrian lies, entirely unconvincing.

“I’m sorry,” Emilia says, right behind Chris. “I knew it was a bad idea before we even left, but—”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Adrian grits out. Emilia nods.

“Okay. I understand. But just so you know…she did a great job. Remembered all her training. I don’t know if she told you, but she’s the one who got the kill shot. Right to the head, from a dozen yards away.”

Adrian swallows. You hadn’t mentioned that. He’d known that you were practicing, putting in your time in the weapons room, sparring with Emilia and Rip. It settles him a little bit, hearing from Emilia, perhaps the most capable agent in the pack, that you’d done well. Maybe you would have told him yourself, if he hadn’t freaked out. He imagines it—you coming home, wide and smiling, excited to tell him about your killshot, wanting him to be proud of you. And he is proud. He’s proud, and he loves you, and he—he can’t live without you. That’s what it comes down to. 

He’s proud of you, but—how could he ever tell you that? If he did, you’d take it as an open invitation. To go on more missions. And that’s the last thing he wants.

He’ll go out and kill bad guys any day without blinking, but when it comes to you doing the same thing—it makes him afraid. He’s a fucking coward when it comes to you.

“Okay,” is all he says, when he realizes Chris and Emilia are waiting for him to respond. “Thank you. For looking after her.”

“Always,” Emilia nods. “That’s what Alphas do. We protect our pack members.”

“You know,” Chris starts, but he’s interrupted by the door to the conference room slamming open. John stumbles out, his laptop in one hand, an empty Redbull can in the other. There are dark circles under his eyes, and it looks like he hasn’t slept in a week.

“Jesus, Economos, you look like shit,” Emilia says.

“I’ve managed to hack my way into every file that was on Dev’s computer,” John says, eyes wide and wild. “And I did it. I found an address.”

“An address?” Chris repeats. “You don’t mean—the address? Sullivan’s headquarters?”

“Fuck yeah, that’s exactly the address I mean,” John says.

Adrian’s heart starts thundering. Finally, he thinks desperately. Finally, I can do something about these assholes once and for all, and you’ll be safe, everyone will be safe.

You, Ads, and Fleury filter back into the room.

“What’s going on?” Ads asks, looking between everyone.

“John found an address!” Chris says.

“What? Where?” Ads cries.

“It’s taken me a while to get through the cloud drive. Leon is the owner of this file. It’s just shared with Dev. His personal document security is fucking shit. I can’t believe none of them have called him on this. It’s sloppy, it’s lazy—”

“Get to the point, John,” Emilia demands. “Where are they?”

“Sorry, did you spend several weeks glued to a computer? Let me have my fucking dramatic reveal, Harcourt! I deserve that much!”

“We don’t have time for drama right now! Spill!”

“Star City,” John says. “You know that asshole Green Lantern?”

“I met him once. Dresses like he’s Robin Hood at a Renaissance Faire. Fucking nerd,” Chris says.

“You’ve been to a Renaissance Faire?” Fleury raises an eyebrow.

“Adrian made me go!”

“Everybody fucking focus!”

The entire room falls quiet and stares at Adrian. Because he has never been the one to ask everyone to focus. In fact, he’s usually the one fucking around so much he gets yelled at. But now, he takes a deep, shaky breath, looks directly at John, and says, “Explain. Star City. Where in Star City? How big is the building? Do they live there, or just work there? What—”

A hand settles on his arm, squeezing softly. Adrian stops and looks at you. His heart feels like it’s climbing up his throat just so he can puke it out onto the floor, but the churning inside him stops when your hand trails down his arm to entwine your fingers. It’s the first time you’ve touched him like this, soft and gentle, since you argued.

“It’s okay,” you say quietly. “We have time. We can make a plan. When Sasha and Rip get back from their mission, we can all go. Together.”

For the first time ever, the word grates on his nerves. Together.

The plan is simple. 

“We’ll do some quick recon,” Ads says. “We send out two people to observe for a day. Make note of their routines, the weak points in their security. And then we go back with the entire team and ambush them, the same way they fucking ambushed us.”

You’re listening carefully, eyes bright and glittering. Adrian knows exactly what has you so enraptured. The entire team, Chris says.

Adrian grinds his teeth. There’s no way he can talk you into sitting this one out.

“Who are we sending?” John asks. “For the recon?”

“Me and Chris,” Emilia says.

“Recon work is not my speciality,” Chris frowns. “Judomaster would be the best choice. We can just wait for him and Bordeaux to get back in three days, and he can go with you.”

Emilia tries not to show it, but she’s pissy. Adrian would snort if he was in the mood to be amused right now. She’s feeling just as impatient as he is, apparently.

But surprisingly, she doesn’t fight Chris on it.

“Fine,” she says. She glances around the room at everyone. Her eyes meet Adrian’s, and his brow furrows. “We’ll wait.”

“No,” Adrian says suddenly. He stares daggers at Chris. “Aren’t we supposed to protect the pack? You told me—that night when I wanted to kill my fucking douchebag brother. You told me to funnel my energy toward this instead. To protect us from the big threats. The big threat is here, and we finally know where we have to go to take care of it. We should not be waiting. Even if all we do is eliminate Leon Sullivan—we’ll leave the rest of his team scrambling, without a leader.”

“They’re not a pack, like we are,” Chris says. “This isn’t a cut-the-head-off-the-monster situation. They don’t need to run off and find another Alpha and reorganize. They’re all lone wolves. The only option is to take them out all at once, or keep picking them off like we have been.”

Adrian stews silently, but doesn’t argue further.

“For now, we can start prepping. Get together the weapons and ammo we’ll need,” Chris continues. “We’ll make sure we’re twice as armed as we usually are, just in case. We can check on our weapons and ammo stock? Put in a rush order on anything that’s damaged, or that we’re running low on?”

“Good idea,” you say.

“I’ll try to see if I can find a floor plan of the building,” John says. “It looks from the outside like a warehouse. If it was ever listed on a real estate site, we can get a good idea of what it looks like on the inside, too.”

“Then everyone can head home and get some rest,” Ads says. “It’s been a long couple of weeks. I want everyone on top of their game before we head out to Star City. We can’t afford to make any mistakes.”

Adrian looks at you. You’re already watching him.

“We can do this,” you assure him with a smile. 

“I know we can,” he says. He tries to smile back. It doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

Everyone heads their separate ways after the meeting. You head off to the infirmary to pack med kits for everyone. Emilia, Ads, and John work on sketching out a layout of the building. Chris starts heading to the weapons room, and Adrian, on autopilot, just follows his best friend, his mind reeling.

He keeps turning the address over in his mind. The names and faces of the enemy.

He keeps thinking of the way Emilia looked at him. We’ll wait, she’d said.

Adrian doesn’t want to wait. He wants to go now.

Who’s going to stop him?

He watches Chris start boxing up weapons to bring to the van, and he starts doing the same. As he works, he tucks a few extra guns and grenades into his own bag, right next to his Vigilante suit.

“You’re quiet,” Chris comments. Adrian just hums noncommittally. “Adrian. Look at me.”

Adrian glances up and meets his best friend’s eyes.

“I don’t know what fucked-up shit is going on inside your head right now,” Chris says. “I don’t know what’s going on between you and your Omega, or what. But whatever rash, dangerous shit you’re thinking about doing, drop it. Now. We have a plan. Stick to the plan.”

“I will,” Adrian says. The words taste bitter.

In the months since he’s become an Alpha, Adrian has always kept his initial promise to Chris and Emilia. Never disobeyed his pack leaders. He doesn’t want to be pack Alpha, he just wants to be your Alpha. 

But right now—he doesn’t want to fucking listen to Chris’s advice or orders from the others. He can’t. There’s something inside him that won’t let him stand by right now. He can’t explain it, but he needs to act.

When you both go home that night, you can feel the anxious tension radiating from him as he sits stiffly in the driver’s seat of the Vigilante-mobile, as he robotically eats his dinner without really tasting anything, as he stares mindlessly at the television and doesn’t absorb a single bit of information.

“Why don’t we just go to bed?” you suggest, when you see him zoning out for the tenth time in half an hour. Adrian just silently nods, still pensive, still thinking.

He watches you go through the motions of your nighttime routine with escalating anxiety. He lets you shave his face, as has become your routine, a soft little shared moment that he always treasures. He feels your soft hands on his face, and your lips on his cheek when you kiss him, and he closes his eyes and makes his decision.

As you shuffle into bed, he stands on his side and just watches you get comfortable. You look up at him, confused.

“Come on,” you say, patting the empty space beside you. It’s an inviting sight. One that is so fucking hard for him to resist, but—

“I don’t think I can sleep,” he says. “I think—maybe I’ll go on patrol. Burn off some energy. Is that okay?”

Your face softens into a smile. A concerned smile, with your brow furrowing just a little between your eyes, but a smile nonetheless, which makes his heart clench. “Of course that’s okay, Ade. If that will make you feel better, of course.”

“I think it will.”

“Do you want me to come?” you ask.

“No, that’s—no,” he says, shaking his head. “Go to sleep, I don’t want to be the reason you’re up late. You’ve been so tired. I saw you yawn like a billion times today.”

You’ve been exhausted, it’s true. Trying to take care of everyone, manage everyone’s emotions. You chew on the inside of your cheek worriedly. You usually like being awake for Adrian when he gets home, to nurse any wounds from his patrols, no matter how insignificant. But he sees the moment you give in.

“Okay,” you say, and Adrian feels a sick, guilty sense of relief wash over him. “You promise you’ll wake me when you get back? Let me look you over?”

You don’t suspect a thing, and that makes him feel a thousand times worse. You trust him so fucking much, and he doesn’t deserve it. Because he’s lying to your face right now. He wants to throw up. But he swallows it down, all those terrible feelings, all the guilt and the lies, and says—

“I will wake you when I get back.”

You watch him change into the Vigilante suit, and he gives you one last wobbly smile before he walks out the door. Then he bends down to kiss you, long and hard and deep. 

“I love you, Omega. So fucking much.”

“I love you too, Alpha,” you whisper. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”

Adrian can’t bring himself to say anything in return.

Then goes on a quick patrol. Kills a graffiti artist. It makes him feel better. A little less like he’s lying to you, at least, because he did go on patrol.

He’s just not coming home afterwards.

Adrian tag list: @justalotoffanfiction @danversxwasabi @clowninavan @adoresami @a-young-g0d @bastardstevie @am-3-thyst @xoxocamis @morguegrl89 @somethin-sparklyy @secretjesterr @seeingdubs @lovenerdywhitemen2 @jeshomie @aerionshipthrust @deamlucem @tlfg-adrianchase @brianna-merlim @amart-e @countvonklit @pieolsen @gingerjane15 @dosyrosyposy @rentaldarling @vigilcourt @hot-bean-juice @sepaaaaa @residentsuperhero

“No, I’m not,” he mumbled, voice considerably more awake than hers as he buried his face in the back of her head. She felt him take a deep breath. “I think today we just do the club, not dinner and the club.”

“What’s the thought process?” she asked, finally prying herself out of Adrian’s grip. She stood up and stretched while Adrian groaned from the loss of contact. He flopped over to where she had been laying and looked up at her, his eyes locked on her the whole time.

“Well, we still have tomorrow, right? We should split up the two leads in case we don’t find anything today, and then we still have something to do tomorrow,” he said. She frowned.

“So club tonight, dinner tomorrow, and just hope that between that we get something?” she asked.

“Yeah, I think club tonight, too, because if I have to go to a club and then the following day get on an airplane I’m going to shoot myself,” he said, sounding serious, and she laughed.

“I get it, a day’s break between them,” she said, shaking her head as she left Adrian in the bed and got out her clothes for the day.

“Well, if we’re only doing the club, you can come back to bed?” he suggested, voice almost hopeful and tinted with a question rather than a statement. God, she wanted nothing more than to take him up on that offer. To get back into bed and maybe this time be a little braver - face him, or lay on top of his chest listening to his heartbeat. Maybe his hand would rub her back and slowly travel lower and lower-

“Adrian, we still should get breakfast and wander around today to see if we find anything,” she cut her own thoughts off, heat rising on her face as she pulled out an outfit that should suffice for the day and the club tonight.

“I guess that’s a good point,” he mumbled and got out of bed. Holding her clothes, she gave him a good once over. His skin was significantly less pink but the burn still looked uncomfortable.

“How’s your sunburn?”

“Hurts, debating if a cold shower is worth it,” he muttered as he got out of bed and went over to his own suitcase. “What do you want to do today besides the club?”

“Maybe we do breakfast at the hotel restaurant instead? See if we can find any of the targets,” she tried. She watched Adrian roll his neck, clearly debating her idea and she had to force herself to look away because all she wanted was to sink her teeth into his neck.

“What if we go to the gym instead? Spar and watch people on the treadmills?” he asked.

“I don’t think sparring is a good idea when we are undercover. Especially if the reason we might not be finding our targets is because they’re on to us.”

“You think someone is on to us?” he asked, sounding like he was in disbelief. She sighed.

“No, but I just want this to be something other than us being bad at our job,” she said with a frown. Adrian clicked his tongue.

“We are not bad at our jobs. You are not bad at your job. I’m telling you, we have to be missing something, okay?” he said firmly. She smiled at him, the look on his face deadly serious.

“Okay,” she said with a nod, and he seemed to accept her response.

“Okay, breakfast at the hotel and then a quick workout? You could just watch me!” Adrian said, waggling his eyebrows up and down as she awkwardly laughed, worried that Adrian suddenly knew exactly what she was thinking about his neck as she grabbed her clothes and made her way into the bathroom. “I’m just saying, we’re on our honeymoon, you should objectify me a little bit.”

She fought the urge to tell him that she had been and he was either too clueless or blind to notice.

“Oh, just a little bit?” she said with a laugh. Adrian’s face split into a huge grin.

“I mean, if you want to objectify me a lot you can do that,” he said with a shrug. She rolled her eyes and closed the bathroom door. “Only if you wanted to though! I’m not forcing you,” he said through the bathroom door and she started getting dressed for the day.

“I know you’re not,” she shouted through the door. “I’d love to objectify you while you work out at the gym,” she teased. She heard Adrian mutter ‘score’ under his breath, and she almost had the perfect picture of him in her mind doing his ‘famous butt dance’ she had seen after too many drinks at a staff outing. She probably spent too much time getting ready for the day they were planning. She normally wouldn’t wear club outfits or do her hair so nice if they were just wandering around, but she knew if they were going to make today count they needed to be out of the room as much as possible, so she took her time showering, doing her hair, and doing light and simple makeup. It wasn’t her best club look, but it was the best she can do with how much they needed to get done for the day.

True to her promise, shortly after getting ready and enjoying a breakfast that Adrian did not appreciate as much as the buffet (he only told her fifty times, complaining about not being able to get a little of everything, to which she reminded him it was all inclusive and he could just do that), she spent the rest of her morning with a drink in hand as she watched Adrian work out.

She had to immediately assume that he was partially showing off, spending most of the time shirtless and clearly flexing for her. His eyes flickered from the equipment to her, making sure she was actually watching him, almost reminding her of when little kids fight for their parents’ attention to show them some of the lamest tricks in existence. She felt giddy just watching him and it was clear he felt giddy as she just watched him. Her head was buzzing at the thought that he was doing all of this just for her. She fought back a laugh as he clearly tried showing off his back as he stretched and flexed for her entertainment and tried to watch her, only for someone to run into him and spill a smoothie all over him.

“Oh my god,” he said, turning to look at her, torso covered in the pink sticky liquid as he grimaced.

“I think you got a little something…” she said smiling as she gestured towards his torso. He frowned and rolled his eyes.

“Ugh, I’m going to be sticky all day now!” he whined, and she laughed.

“Go take a shower and I’ll meet you by the pool okay?” she asked, walking up to Adrian. She laughed as he pouted, she was quick to cup his cheek with one hand and kiss his other cheek. Her thumb rubbing the apple of his cheek as his lips twitched.

“Okay,” he said softly, walking away before swiftly turning on his heel to come back to kiss her cheek. She laughed at his goofiness as she watched him walk off. It was so easy to play up this part with him, but once she was alone she was consumed with the thought that this is all fake. Every touch, every glance, every smile, it was all fake. Just for work and nothing more. The only genuine moment she had was the previous night, when he wrapped himself around her and held her all night long.

The rest of the day passed by normally. The two continued playing up the newlywed bit throughout the day waiting patiently for the club to open. Their eyes on every guest but with no luck of them matching anything on the dossier. Well, she was being patient. Adrian was antsy. It didn’t take much puttering around for the time to fly and for them to find themselves in the brightly colored and glowing club. Her simple look from earlier looked severely underdressed, but at least it was better than her other day to day outfits and since Adrian was in a similar boat they looked out of place together.

She grimaced the moment they walked in, her arm looped into Adrian’s as she shuffled in her dress and took in all the people.

Way too many people to even begin looking through.

Adrian seemed to feel her worry as he led them towards the bar, letting her order her own drink while he ordered a nonalcoholic beverage.

“Why don’t you get something? One drink isn’t going to kill you,” she teased, leaning against the bar and looking up at him as he smiled.

“Just prefer it, want to keep sharp for you,” he said with a shrug. “You can have as much as you want though, I’ll watch out for you.”

“That’s really sweet Ade, but I’ll probably just stick with the one,” she said, thanking the bartender as she handed them their drinks.

“Are you positive Economos knew what he was talking about?” Adrian whispered over his drink, a Shirley temple. His white linen shirt positively glowed under the club lights. She moved to lean against the bar, taking a sip of her drink and taking in all the people.

“I mean, if you were doing sketchy business…” she started.

“A club is a great place to do it,” Adrian said, nodding, almost sounding like he was reciting a rule book. She had noticed that he carried around a notebook when he was patrolling as Vigilante. She smiled and thought about Adrian pausing his busy night protecting Evergreen to scribble down some notes or a doodle. “What’s your preferred game plan on this one?” She sighed and looked around, biting the inside of her cheek while she debated.

“You think you can keep watch near the bar and I’ll go dance?” she asked, and Adrian looked at her with wide eyes.

“You want to split up?”

“No, I just think if I’m in the middle of the club, I’d like someone looking out who has an almost full scope of the place.”

“Then I should get in the vents!”

“You’re not getting in the vents. This is not a spy movie,” she said with a laugh, and Adrian rolled his eyes, but an easy smile rested on his face.

“But it could be,” Adrian said, shrugging his shoulders as if it was simply that easy.

“You stay here, watch my back for me?” she said, setting her drink on the bar.

“Always,” he said, voice tight and focused, almost as if he’s insulted that she felt she had to ask him for anything. She tried to not read too much into it as she began making her way on the dance floor watching the people pass by. Her eyes cataloged people carefully, but no one stuck out to her from any part of the dossier.

It didn’t take long for her to lose track of Adrian as he remained at the bar, but she trusted that he had his eye on her, ready to step in if she found herself in any trouble. She turned around to meet the eyes of a man who looked vaguely familiar smiling at her.

Alarm bells started going off in her head; he did just look like some guy, but if he looked somewhat familiar, maybe that meant he was from the dossier, and she was desperate for that to be true.

“Hey beautiful,” he said, smile still beaming. “Can I dance with you?”

“Oh!” she said, turning towards the direction Adrian went but unable to find him. She cursed herself for asking to split up. Adrian would be able to confirm if he was in the dossier.

“Well?” he asked, eyebrows raised as his blue eyes took in her body. She felt her skin begin to crawl from his look, but she knew better than anyone not to raise a fuss - especially when she had a mission to take care of.

“Of course,” she said, smiling gently. “What brings you to Florida?” she asked, cursing her eagerness, but felt lucky he laughed it off.

“I’m on vacation, what about you?” he said, laughing brightly, almost sounding fake and practiced. It almost sounded like Adrian’s laugh, but wrong.

“I’m on my honeymoon!” she said, keeping her voice relaxed and easy.

“Where’s your husband then? Don’t tell me he left a beautiful girl to dance on her own?” he asked, hands suddenly pulling at her waist and tugging her into him as she gasped, hands flying to his chest to steady herself.

“He’s around here somewhere,” she said vaguely, craning her neck to try to get a look at the bar, but he spun her right around.

“Well, if you were mine I don’t think I’d ever let you out of my sight,” he said, pulling her closer and nibbling at her ear. She shuddered and tried to squirm away, laughing to play it off, but the man’s grip remained tight.

“Oh! He was somewhere around the bar, I’m sure he’s looking for me so I should-”

“He’s not here, beautiful. You should worry more about who’s in front of you,” he said, words heavy as her panic began to rise, his hand moving to cup her ass, she gasped as he squeezed. She didn’t understand where on earth Adrian could’ve gone off too. He said he’d watch her back, why wasn’t he-

“Her husband’s right here,” Adrian’s voice said behind her, sounding cold.

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“No, I’m not,” he mumbled, voice considerably more awake than hers as he buried his face in the back of her head. She felt him take a deep breath. “I think today we just do the club, not dinner and the club.”

“What’s the thought process?” she asked, finally prying herself out of Adrian’s grip. She stood up and stretched while Adrian groaned from the loss of contact. He flopped over to where she had been laying and looked up at her, his eyes locked on her the whole time.

“Well, we still have tomorrow, right? We should split up the two leads in case we don’t find anything today, and then we still have something to do tomorrow,” he said. She frowned.

“So club tonight, dinner tomorrow, and just hope that between that we get something?” she asked.

“Yeah, I think club tonight, too, because if I have to go to a club and then the following day get on an airplane I’m going to shoot myself,” he said, sounding serious, and she laughed.

“I get it, a day’s break between them,” she said, shaking her head as she left Adrian in the bed and got out her clothes for the day.

“Well, if we’re only doing the club, you can come back to bed?” he suggested, voice almost hopeful and tinted with a question rather than a statement. God, she wanted nothing more than to take him up on that offer. To get back into bed and maybe this time be a little braver - face him, or lay on top of his chest listening to his heartbeat. Maybe his hand would rub her back and slowly travel lower and lower-

“Adrian, we still should get breakfast and wander around today to see if we find anything,” she cut her own thoughts off, heat rising on her face as she pulled out an outfit that should suffice for the day and the club tonight.

“I guess that’s a good point,” he mumbled and got out of bed. Holding her clothes, she gave him a good once over. His skin was significantly less pink but the burn still looked uncomfortable.

“How’s your sunburn?”

“Hurts, debating if a cold shower is worth it,” he muttered as he got out of bed and went over to his own suitcase. “What do you want to do today besides the club?”

“Maybe we do breakfast at the hotel restaurant instead? See if we can find any of the targets,” she tried. She watched Adrian roll his neck, clearly debating her idea and she had to force herself to look away because all she wanted was to sink her teeth into his neck.

“What if we go to the gym instead? Spar and watch people on the treadmills?” he asked.

“I don’t think sparring is a good idea when we are undercover. Especially if the reason we might not be finding our targets is because they’re on to us.”

“You think someone is on to us?” he asked, sounding like he was in disbelief. She sighed.

“No, but I just want this to be something other than us being bad at our job,” she said with a frown. Adrian clicked his tongue.

“We are not bad at our jobs. You are not bad at your job. I’m telling you, we have to be missing something, okay?” he said firmly. She smiled at him, the look on his face deadly serious.

“Okay,” she said with a nod, and he seemed to accept her response.

“Okay, breakfast at the hotel and then a quick workout? You could just watch me!” Adrian said, waggling his eyebrows up and down as she awkwardly laughed, worried that Adrian suddenly knew exactly what she was thinking about his neck as she grabbed her clothes and made her way into the bathroom. “I’m just saying, we’re on our honeymoon, you should objectify me a little bit.”

She fought the urge to tell him that she had been and he was either too clueless or blind to notice.

“Oh, just a little bit?” she said with a laugh. Adrian’s face split into a huge grin.

“I mean, if you want to objectify me a lot you can do that,” he said with a shrug. She rolled her eyes and closed the bathroom door. “Only if you wanted to though! I’m not forcing you,” he said through the bathroom door and she started getting dressed for the day.

“I know you’re not,” she shouted through the door. “I’d love to objectify you while you work out at the gym,” she teased. She heard Adrian mutter ‘score’ under his breath, and she almost had the perfect picture of him in her mind doing his ‘famous butt dance’ she had seen after too many drinks at a staff outing. She probably spent too much time getting ready for the day they were planning. She normally wouldn’t wear club outfits or do her hair so nice if they were just wandering around, but she knew if they were going to make today count they needed to be out of the room as much as possible, so she took her time showering, doing her hair, and doing light and simple makeup. It wasn’t her best club look, but it was the best she can do with how much they needed to get done for the day.

True to her promise, shortly after getting ready and enjoying a breakfast that Adrian did not appreciate as much as the buffet (he only told her fifty times, complaining about not being able to get a little of everything, to which she reminded him it was all inclusive and he could just do that), she spent the rest of her morning with a drink in hand as she watched Adrian work out.

She had to immediately assume that he was partially showing off, spending most of the time shirtless and clearly flexing for her. His eyes flickered from the equipment to her, making sure she was actually watching him, almost reminding her of when little kids fight for their parents’ attention to show them some of the lamest tricks in existence. She felt giddy just watching him and it was clear he felt giddy as she just watched him. Her head was buzzing at the thought that he was doing all of this just for her. She fought back a laugh as he clearly tried showing off his back as he stretched and flexed for her entertainment and tried to watch her, only for someone to run into him and spill a smoothie all over him.

“Oh my god,” he said, turning to look at her, torso covered in the pink sticky liquid as he grimaced.

“I think you got a little something…” she said smiling as she gestured towards his torso. He frowned and rolled his eyes.

“Ugh, I’m going to be sticky all day now!” he whined, and she laughed.

“Go take a shower and I’ll meet you by the pool okay?” she asked, walking up to Adrian. She laughed as he pouted, she was quick to cup his cheek with one hand and kiss his other cheek. Her thumb rubbing the apple of his cheek as his lips twitched.

“Okay,” he said softly, walking away before swiftly turning on his heel to come back to kiss her cheek. She laughed at his goofiness as she watched him walk off. It was so easy to play up this part with him, but once she was alone she was consumed with the thought that this is all fake. Every touch, every glance, every smile, it was all fake. Just for work and nothing more. The only genuine moment she had was the previous night, when he wrapped himself around her and held her all night long.

The rest of the day passed by normally. The two continued playing up the newlywed bit throughout the day waiting patiently for the club to open. Their eyes on every guest but with no luck of them matching anything on the dossier. Well, she was being patient. Adrian was antsy. It didn’t take much puttering around for the time to fly and for them to find themselves in the brightly colored and glowing club. Her simple look from earlier looked severely underdressed, but at least it was better than her other day to day outfits and since Adrian was in a similar boat they looked out of place together.

She grimaced the moment they walked in, her arm looped into Adrian’s as she shuffled in her dress and took in all the people.

Way too many people to even begin looking through.

Adrian seemed to feel her worry as he led them towards the bar, letting her order her own drink while he ordered a nonalcoholic beverage.

“Why don’t you get something? One drink isn’t going to kill you,” she teased, leaning against the bar and looking up at him as he smiled.

“Just prefer it, want to keep sharp for you,” he said with a shrug. “You can have as much as you want though, I’ll watch out for you.”

“That’s really sweet Ade, but I’ll probably just stick with the one,” she said, thanking the bartender as she handed them their drinks.

“Are you positive Economos knew what he was talking about?” Adrian whispered over his drink, a Shirley temple. His white linen shirt positively glowed under the club lights. She moved to lean against the bar, taking a sip of her drink and taking in all the people.

“I mean, if you were doing sketchy business…” she started.

“A club is a great place to do it,” Adrian said, nodding, almost sounding like he was reciting a rule book. She had noticed that he carried around a notebook when he was patrolling as Vigilante. She smiled and thought about Adrian pausing his busy night protecting Evergreen to scribble down some notes or a doodle. “What’s your preferred game plan on this one?” She sighed and looked around, biting the inside of her cheek while she debated.

“You think you can keep watch near the bar and I’ll go dance?” she asked, and Adrian looked at her with wide eyes.

“You want to split up?”

“No, I just think if I’m in the middle of the club, I’d like someone looking out who has an almost full scope of the place.”

“Then I should get in the vents!”

“You’re not getting in the vents. This is not a spy movie,” she said with a laugh, and Adrian rolled his eyes, but an easy smile rested on his face.

“But it could be,” Adrian said, shrugging his shoulders as if it was simply that easy.

“You stay here, watch my back for me?” she said, setting her drink on the bar.

“Always,” he said, voice tight and focused, almost as if he’s insulted that she felt she had to ask him for anything. She tried to not read too much into it as she began making her way on the dance floor watching the people pass by. Her eyes cataloged people carefully, but no one stuck out to her from any part of the dossier.

It didn’t take long for her to lose track of Adrian as he remained at the bar, but she trusted that he had his eye on her, ready to step in if she found herself in any trouble. She turned around to meet the eyes of a man who looked vaguely familiar smiling at her.

Alarm bells started going off in her head; he did just look like some guy, but if he looked somewhat familiar, maybe that meant he was from the dossier, and she was desperate for that to be true.

“Hey beautiful,” he said, smile still beaming. “Can I dance with you?”

“Oh!” she said, turning towards the direction Adrian went but unable to find him. She cursed herself for asking to split up. Adrian would be able to confirm if he was in the dossier.

“Well?” he asked, eyebrows raised as his blue eyes took in her body. She felt her skin begin to crawl from his look, but she knew better than anyone not to raise a fuss - especially when she had a mission to take care of.

“Of course,” she said, smiling gently. “What brings you to Florida?” she asked, cursing her eagerness, but felt lucky he laughed it off.

“I’m on vacation, what about you?” he said, laughing brightly, almost sounding fake and practiced. It almost sounded like Adrian’s laugh, but wrong.

“I’m on my honeymoon!” she said, keeping her voice relaxed and easy.

“Where’s your husband then? Don’t tell me he left a beautiful girl to dance on her own?” he asked, hands suddenly pulling at her waist and tugging her into him as she gasped, hands flying to his chest to steady herself.

“He’s around here somewhere,” she said vaguely, craning her neck to try to get a look at the bar, but he spun her right around.

“Well, if you were mine I don’t think I’d ever let you out of my sight,” he said, pulling her closer and nibbling at her ear. She shuddered and tried to squirm away, laughing to play it off, but the man’s grip remained tight.

“Oh! He was somewhere around the bar, I’m sure he’s looking for me so I should-”

“He’s not here, beautiful. You should worry more about who’s in front of you,” he said, words heavy as her panic began to rise, his hand moving to cup her ass, she gasped as he squeezed. She didn’t understand where on earth Adrian could’ve gone off too. He said he’d watch her back, why wasn’t he-

“Her husband’s right here,” Adrian’s voice said behind her, sounding cold.

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You aren’t the only one. John stays at the office, holed up in his cubicle on his computer all day, still trying to debug some corrupt files from Dev’s laptop, hacking into his personal accounts to see what other information he might be able to find to help the team. You could help at first, with the simple things, but now he’s trying much more complex computer bullshit that flies right over your head, and you could tell your presence was slowing him down more than helping, so you just give him space now.

Ads keeps busy, too. It seems like she’s constantly on the phone. She’s a people person, great at making connections and building relationships that will benefit the future of Checkmate for years to come. Good at making small talk in a way that you never have been. You’d been able to reach out to a few people you knew from past jobs years ago, but—it wasn’t exactly working out. You’d realized it less than a week into the project. Society has come a long way, but Omegas still struggle to be respected even in normal job fields. With something as dangerous as your black ops, potential Checkmate business partners aren’t so reassured when an Omega is their initial contact.

Which leaves you doing basic intern bullshit, like refilling the snack cabinet and going on coffee runs and making sure the office is clean and comfortable for everyone as they file in and out in this cycle that feels like it will never end.

It has given you a chance to spend more time in the training room. You’re determinedly practicing everything Emilia has taught you every day, and even when she comes back from a mission exhausted, she will always spend a few hours with you sparring to keep you in good field shape. Not that you’re using any of the skills in practice, right now. Still, it’s nice to be prepared.

You’re in the training room on your own, beating the shit out of a punching bag, when you’re interrupted by your phone ringing. You pause, wipe the sweat from your forehead, and answer a little breathlessly.

“Hey, Em.”

“I’m twenty minutes out from the office,” she says, and a chill runs down your spine at the tone of her voice. “Fleury took a bullet to the leg. I packed it as best as I could, but you—”

“Fuck,” you say. “Fuck, I’ll prep the med room. Is he conscious?”

“Unfortunately,” you hear Fleury say weakly.

“Still well enough to be sarcastic with me,” you tease. John and Ads look up, alarmed, as you rush through the office toward the infirmary. You shout an explanation over your shoulder. “Fleury got shot.”

“Ah, shit,” John says, scrambling up from his desk and heading to the front door. “I’ll wait up front for them.”

As you prepare some emergency supplies, you can’t help but feel a little relieved that you can finally be useful. Your skills as a medic are coming in handy. Then you feel instantly guilty for even having the thought, because yes, you get to help, but that also means someone you love has been injured. Then you feel angry, that people are out there trying to hurt your family, and your determination to be helpful flares anew.

It’s a never-ending cycle that always leads back to one thing: you want to get out of this office. 

You’re instantly on autopilot when Emilia and Fleury get back to the office, doing your job efficiently, not letting on your frustration. But it simmers stronger than ever.

You want to go out there with your packmates and help.

“He’s okay. He’ll be out of commission for four weeks, at least,” you report when you finally leave the infirmary. “He’s sleeping now.”

“Fuck,” Emilia sighs. She, John, and Ads had given you some space to work once Fleury was out of the immediate danger zone, and it was clear that he wasn’t going to die of blood loss. Still, you had heard her anxious footsteps pacing in the hallway the entire time. She doesn’t let it show overtly, but you can tell she’s upset that one of her pack members got hurt.

“Did you accomplish the job?” Ads asks. “The person who shot him—”

“Dead,” Emilia says shortly. “I made sure of it. But…” She hesitates. “She was prepared. That’s the reason Fleury got hurt. We thought we were under her radar, but we weren’t. She knew we were there the whole time. Sullivan’s team is starting to catch on. They’re on guard.”

“She’s dead, at least,” you say. “That’s good.”

“Not good. I mean, yes, one more person down, but—the woman I killed gave up some information, before she died. A lead on Selena Falko. Apparently she’s Leon Sullivan’s second in command.”

“You have a lead,” John says, confused. “Isn’t that good?”

“It’s time-sensitive information. She’s going to be in northern California on Friday. But she’ll only be there for two days. It’s a ten-hour drive. If I’m going to kill her—”

“You need to leave now,” you finish. It’s nearing the end of the day on Wednesday now. If Emilia wants to be in position, she needs to go, but—

“Everyone else is out on a mission,” Emilia says. “No one is due to get back until Monday, at least. I’ll need to go on my own.”

“No,” you say. “Absolutely not. I don’t give a shit if you’re the pack Alpha, you do not work alone. Not on something like this. Especially when you just said that Sullivan’s team knows that we’re onto them.”

Emilia frowns. “You’re right. Ads, you gotta come with me. Start packing.”

Ads hesitates. “I’ve been making really good progress, building this list of new contacts. I’m waiting for some really important calls right now, if I’m out on the road with you, I won’t be able to—”

“She can handle it!” Emilia insists, gesturing at you. “She’s—”

“No one wants to talk to me,” you say sharply. “Because I’m an Omega. I haven’t been calling people for weeks, Emilia, because if I’m the first person from Checkmate they talk to, they look at us like we’re weak.”

“Okay,” Emilia sighs. “I’m sorry. Then put the networking on hold, and we—”

“I don’t think—” Ads starts.

“Ads, this is important—we have no idea how long Selena is going to be in the area, we need to—”

“This is important too, Harcourt!”

“Selena Falko is an immediate threat,” Emilia cries. “We can’t just—”

“Stop!” you shout, and everyone in the room falls silent. Your heart pounds, because—this is your chance. And you need them to listen. “Fleury is going to need someone to stay with him for a couple weeks. He can’t be living alone right now, and it’s not fair to make him sleep at the office. Ads, you can continue your work remotely from his house. And I will go with Emilia to take down Falko.”

The silence stretches out, a little uncomfortable, but you refuse to be the one to break it. Not when you can see the gears turning behind Emilia’s eyes. You stare her down. You know you can sway John and Ads to your side. Your pack Alpha is the one that needs convincing right now.

“Adrian is going to lose it if you come with me,” she finally says.

“I am a black ops agent,” you say firmly. “Just like the rest of you. I am more than capable of doing the job. You’re going to be doing all the heavy lifting anyway, Emilia. Falko is close. Just a county over, you said right? We’ll be gone for a few days at most. Back before Adrian even has a chance to freak out about it.”

Emilia bites her lip. “No. It’s—I’ll just go on my own.”

“No the hell you won’t,” you say, your frustration growing. “I will go with you, or you do not go at all.”

They all stare at you.

“Are you sure?” Emilia asks. “This is—if you come on this mission with me, no matter how small, and you don’t tell your Alpha about it—he’s going to be pissed. At both of us.”

“He’s my Alpha, not my owner,” you say. “Emilia, you have been training me. You know exactly how much I’ve improved over the last few months. You know exactly how capable I am of backing you up on this.”

Emilia sighs. “Fine. Adebayo stays with Fleury, you come with me. It’s your fucking funeral.”

Three days later, on Saturday afternoon, the door to the Checkmate office swings open wildly and bangs against the wall. Adrian walks inside with an extra spring in his step, grinning ear to ear, Chris following right on his tail, also in a particularly good mood. They’re back two days earlier than expected, because their asshole target had the decency to live at the beach and own a boat.

Tossing a body into the ocean with a cinder block tied to its feet is so much more efficient than dismembering and burning.

Which means less time doing his least favorite part of killing—cleaning up—and more time doing his favorite thing in the whole world. Being with you.

Adrian makes a beeline for your desk, like he always does, and frowns when he sees it empty. Your computer screen is sleeping, so you’ve been away from it for a while. Maybe you’re in the training room. He starts heading that way, trying to follow the trail of your scent, but you’ve been spending so much time at the office that it’s all over every surface. When he peeks inside, the training room is empty. The weapons room is empty. Your office in the infirmary is empty. A glance outside the window tells him you’re not sitting out in the courtyard.

A terrible anxiety starts churning in his stomach. 

“Where the fuck are you,” he whispers to himself.

He starts walking back toward the main office floor with determination, poking his head into the break room on the way. He’s looked literally everywhere else. You’re in the break room, you have to be in the break room.

You’re not in the break room.

John and Ads are, though, and they look up, startled, when the door slams open. Adrian is too anxious to see you to be gentle with doors right now.

“Hey guys!” he says, forcing a bright tone to hide the growing panic inside. “Where’s—”

He cuts himself off when he sees the looks on his friends’ faces. John has gone white and looks like he’s about to puke. Ads is biting her lip, wincing.

“She’s…not here,” Ads says delicately, and Adrian’s stomach swoops again with nerves. John gets up and moves to scramble to the doorway, but Ads grabs him by the sleeve. “Do not leave me alone to deal with this—”

“Deal with what?” Chris asks from over Adrian’s shoulder. “Watch out, Vig, I need a fucking coffee—”

John and Ada pointedly do not answer Chris’s question. The silence hangs in the air for too long. Adrian’s stomach is trying itself into knots.

“Deal with what?” Adrian repeats.

“She’s not here,” John squeaks out.

“You said that already,” Adrian says, taking a deep breath to calm himself. “Like, she went to the store or something?”

Chris turns around with his cup of coffee, takes in the tense scene before him, and sets it down on the counter. He looks suspiciously at Adebayo.

“Spill, Ads.”

She looks between Chris and Adrian nervously.

“Fleury got shot,” she says calmly. “He’s out of commission for the next four weeks.”

A sense of relief washes over Adrian, and he lets out a long breath, shoulders slumping. You’re with Fleury. You’re just—doing your job. Handling the treatment and recovery of an injured team member.

“Fleury is okay?” Chris checks.

“He’s okay,” Ads says. “But Emilia—”

“Emilia is hurt?” Chris cuts in, alarmed. “Why was that not the first fucking thing you said to me—”

“Emilia is fine!”

But Ads looks sideways at Adrian as she says it, and his stomach starts hurting again. Something is wrong. He can feel it, now, the way everyone is dancing around it, refusing to answer him, and he needs to know where you are rightfuckingnow.

“Where is my Omega?” Adrian asks, his voice tight.

“She’s on a mission with Emilia!” John blurts. 

Everyone stops talking at once and stares. Adrian feels his blood run cold.

For a moment, he says nothing. Just stares right back at the rest of them, shell-shocked, because there’s no way you would do this to him. Go out and risk your life on a mission without even telling him you were going. The idea is so laughable that he actually starts laughing, but the joke isn’t that funny at all, really, so it’s a fake, forceful laugh.

“Nice one, Economos. Really. She would never—”

“Where did they go?” Chris asks Ads, and the serious tone of his voice makes Adrian’s desperate laughter die instantly.

“She wouldn’t,” he says. The words are shaky, tinged with anxiety, like repeating them will make it true. His eyes flick back and forth between all of his friends, and the terrible, panicky feeling roars back in a flash. “She wouldn’t—”

“She did,” Ads says, careful and quiet. “Emilia had a time-sensitive lead.”

They’re not kidding. They’re not—

All of his panic transforms in a split second into white-hot rage, an anger like he’s never felt, fueled by fear and worry and hurt, because what if you get shot, again? What if he loses the best thing that’s ever happened to him? How could you fucking do this to him? How could his friends fucking let you?

“What—what the fuck do you mean?” Adrian explodes. “What—-why—”

 “Fleury’s hurt. With him sidelined, Emilia couldn’t go on her own, so—”

“So why the fuck didn’t you go with her? Why would she—what the fuck, Ads!”

“Vig,” Chris says. “You gotta calm down—”

“Fuck you,” Adrian spits. “Did you fucking know about this?”

“No,” Chris says sharply. “I didn’t. And frankly, Adrian, I’m also pissed, because she and Emilia should have known that you’d react like this, and now I’m the one dealing with your bullshit.”

“You’re back early. She didn’t want to tell you, because she thought it might distract you from your own mission, and she didn’t want you to get hurt. And they were assuming they’d return before you, and you wouldn’t have to know at all,” John says. 

“Not helping, John!”

It is, in fact, not helping, because now Adrian is spiraling even more. He can’t believe that you wouldn’t tell him about something this big, this important. You know him better than anyone else in the fucking world. You knew how much this would hurt him, and you still did it. 

The sting of betrayal is sharp and cold, like he’s been stabbed right in the heart. The very heart he’d given over to you, trusting that your gentle hands would love it, protect it. The same way he loves and protects yours.

Adrian realizes everyone is looking at him warily, like he’s a bomb about to explode. Maybe he is. Maybe he’s just going to fucking self-destruct, and the only person who knows how to diffuse the situation is the one who lit the fuse in the first place, and he doesn’t know what to do. What to say.

No. He does know what to do.

“Where did they go?” Adrian asks.

No one says a word.

“Where did they go,” Adrian repeats, not a question anymore at all, but a demand for information. “You know what—fuck it. I have her location—” He starts to reach for his phone with trembling hands.

“Northern California,” Ads says.

“Give me the keys, Chris,” Adrian says, holding out his hand for the van keys. Chris does not hand them over. “Chris, give me the fucking keys.”

“No,” Chris says after a moment. “I can’t do that.”

“Why the fuck not—”

“Because look at you, Adrian! You are not fucking stable right now. I know you want to protect your Omega. But if you interrupt them mid-mission, if you go in there guns blazing, you are going to be the reason she gets hurt. You have to fucking trust her!”

“Trust her!” Adrian scoffs. “Trust her the way she apparently trusts me?”

“Maybe you need to think about why,” Chris says. “Why she didn’t tell you. Because she knew you would react like this. Because if you were here—would you have let her go without a fight? Or would you have sidelined her? Again? What happened to the guy a few months ago who told me and Emilia we were being overbearing Alphas for not wanting her to go out in the field?”

“He was wrong! I was wrong! She almost fucking died! And if she—if she—” Adrian’s voice cracks. “I know what it’s like now. To have her. To be hers and have her be mine. I can’t lose her. I won’t.”

Suddenly, the shrill ringing of Adebayo’s phone breaks through the thick tension of the room. She pulls it from her pocket.

“It’s Emilia,” she says, a little wary. She looks back and forth between Adrian and Chris like she’s not sure if she should answer it.

“Pick up,” Chris says.

“Hey,” Ads says. “Are you—” She pauses and listens, and her shoulders slump with a little relief. “Okay. Okay, that’s great. We’ll see you later.” She hangs up and addresses the others in the room. “Selena Falko is dead. They’re on their way back now. Should be here in six hours or so.”

Adrian exhales with sharp relief. You’re okay. Your mission is done. You’re coming home now. But still, he can feel the trembling in his hands, the wobble of his bottom lip. The fire of his anger has been doused, and it just leaves him—sad? Anxious? Guilty? He isn’t sure what the feeling is, only that he hates it. Only that he wishes you were here.

His phone is burning in his pocket. He wants to talk to you. He never wants to talk to you again. He wants to yell at you, to make you hurt the same way that he’s hurting right now. He wants to cradle you in his arms and keep you away from the rest of the world forever to make sure you are never, ever hurt again. Conflicting desires war inside him.

Chris watches his face carefully.

“Go home, Adrian,” Chris says. “Ads will take you. I don’t think you should be driving right now. Someone should go check on Fleury anyway.”

“Okay,” he says hoarsely. “Yeah.”

He’s quiet the entire ride. Ads doesn’t dare to break the fragile silence. There’s nothing she can say to fix the way he’s feeling right now, anyway.

Adrian doesn’t know what to do with himself when he opens the door to the apartment and you aren’t there. He’s never spent any time here without you, he realizes. The place feels empty without your presence, and something pulls at his heart when he thinks about you being here all alone for days or weeks at a time, waiting for him to get back from missions.

He doesn’t like being alone. He spent years being alone, patrolling all night by himself, heading back to his dingy Vigilante lair in his mom’s basement to patch himself up. He hasn’t been truly alone like this in weeks, not since he moved in with you.

He hates it.

Muscle memory guides Adrian, robotically, through the motions of his after-mission routine. He takes a thorough shower and thinks about how you should be standing here under the hot stream of water with him, or at least sitting on the bathroom counter listening to him yap. He doesn’t have anyone to yap to. There are words crawling up his throat with nowhere to go.

He gets dressed afterwards and goes to the kitchen, makes himself a sandwich that he can’t bring himself to eat. He’s not hungry. His stomach is still churning with worry, with anger. He dumps the food in the trash.

He stands in the door of the bedroom and thinks about getting into bed and going to sleep. But he knows he won’t be able to. It’s been so long he barely remembers how he ever slept on his own, without your warm body resting beside him, without your arm flung around his waist, without the weird little endearing noises you make in your sleep.

So he turns to the living room. He sits on the couch. And he waits.

It’s late when you and Emilia return to the Checkmate office. You’re fucking tired, but also exhilirated. It had been really fucking nice to finally put your field skills to use. To finally prove yourself in the way you’ve been wanting to for months, since you first got hurt. The two of you had taken out Selena Falko in record time, and you’re in a fabulous mood.

Still, no matter how fulfilled you’re feeling, you’re also exhausted. The office work you’ve been doing every day is a lot less physically draining. How Adrian has the energy to come home and continue to bounce off the walls of your apartment after missions and patrols is beyond your comprehension.

You and Emilia are planning to drop off your bags. A med kit that you didn’t have to use, because neither of you got hurt, thank god, you did not want to have to explain away a black eye or broken arm to Adrian. Some clothes, some weapons, and other field equipment are shoved into other backpacks and duffle bags. You shove through the front door and make your way toward the infirmary with the med kit while Emilia trails behind you with a bag of weapons to return to the training room.

“Oh, hey, Chris,” you say when you pass by him, waving. He doesn’t say anything, just looks at you. It’s only once you reach the door to the infirmary that you stop in your tracks and turn around.

Emilia stands there, wincing at the sight of her mate standing in the middle of the room with crossed arms and an unamused frown. Your heart sinks in your chest when Chris turns that disapproving stare in your direction.

“Oh, fuck,” you sigh.

“Yeah,” Chris says. “Oh, fuck, alright.”

“When did you get back?” Emilia asks.

“This afternoon,” Chris says. He looks at you pointedly. “Adrian was real fucking excited to get to go home and spend an extra day with his Omega before we had to leave for our next assignment.”

“He knows?” you ask weakly.

“Did you really think Economos would be able to keep a fucking secret like that?”

“Shit.” You drop your bag at the door to your office and start rushing to the door without another word.

You need to get home. Now.

The sound of the front door unlocking snaps Adrian out of his daze instantly, his heart rabbiting in his chest, his head snapping to look toward it so fast he nearly gets whiplash. It creaks open slowly, and you step inside hesitantly, your footsteps soft and quiet, like you’re afraid to wake him up at this late hour. 

Like he could fucking sleep without you. He didn’t even try.

Your nervous gaze sweeps over the room, and the second your eyes meet his, Adrian scrambles to his feet. He’s reminded of the day he saw you in the office after his first rut. His heart pounded the same way so loud in his ears that it drowns out the rest of the world. He stood there awkwardly not knowing what to do with himself all those months ago, and now—

He doesn’t know how to react now, either. You’re staring at him, wide-eyed, a little guilty,  like you’ve been caught doing something you shouldn’t have. You’re also worried, because you can see it. His hands are shaking. His whole body is shaking, he’s worked himself up so much.

He’s got so many fucking emotions swirling around inside him, all fighting to be felt at once. He feels like he’s going to puke out of sheer relief that you’re standing here in front of him, whole and unhurt. He feels like he wants to yell at you for the rest of his life for making him worry like this, making him sit with this terrible, awful anxiety. He feels fucking pissed off because you went on a mission and didn’t fucking tell him. 

You approach him slowly, reach out to touch him, and for the first time in a long time, you hesitate, unsure if he’ll want that.

Then he reaches for you, almost on autopilot, because that’s just what he does now. He reaches for you. He seeks out your touch in a way he never has with anyone else, and he really fucking needs it right now. Needs not just to see, but to feel that you are okay, and whole, and with him. 

Adrian pulls you into a hug so tight it hurts, restricts the airflow to your lungs, his strong arms wrapped tight around your shoulders, one hand fisted in the fabric of your shirt and the other gripping at your hair to tug you in for a rough kiss. You return it immediately, mouth opening for him, teeth clacking together, and he bites your bottom lip so hard it draws blood, but he doesn’t stop. He can’t stop.

You smell wrong, and it puts him on edge. Your scent is there, like it always is, but there’s also—gunpowder, and sweat, and something else. You haven’t showered off the mission yet, the lingering air of death, because you and Emilia fucking killed someone and he wasn’t there—

“Adrian—” you gasp, and he shoves away from you suddenly, clutching your shoulders with a grip so strong you already know his fingertips will leave bruises.

“You—you—” he stumbles over his words, relief and anger warring on his face. “I cannot believe you—how could you fucking—”

“Shh,” you hush him, hands cupping his cheeks. “It’s okay, baby, it’s—”

“It’s not okay,” Adrian says, his voice thick, but then he’s kissing you again. He can’t help it. He’s just so fucking relieved to have you back in his arms, after spending the last six hours turning over every worst-case scenario in his mind. You, stabbed or shot or killed by your target, and he can’t—

Adrian shoves away from you again, steps back, turns away from you. He rubs his eyes with his fists, squeezing them closed tight, determined not to let out the tears threatening to spill down his cheeks. He can’t fucking look at you right now. He will melt if he does. Take one look into your soft eyes and drag you into the bedroom and fuck it out of his system. He doesn’t want to do that. He never wants to fuck you when he’s angry, and he’s not exactly in the mood to be gentle right now.

“Adrian—”

“Do you have any idea—” he starts, but his voice cracks. He hates it. He wants to breathe deep, to think before he speaks, but logic isn’t driving the bus right now, and instead, he raises his voice, whirls around to face you, and yells, “You fucking lied to me!”

It’s your fault he feels like this. All torn up inside. He scowls.

“How could you do this to me?” he spits. It’s vicious, the way he says it, and you step back, away from him.

It’s your turn, now, to scowl, even as your heart races, indignant anger flooding your veins. “Do what to you, Adrian? I didn’t do a damn thing except what was necessary to help our pack—”

“You were supposed to be back at the office! Do you have any idea what it felt like to come back and look around everywhere for you, only to be told by Economos that you were out on a fucking mission? A mission you were never supposed to be on in the first place, because—”

“Because why?” you demand. “Why was I never supposed to be on a mission, Adrian? Because you don’t fucking trust me to do my job? A job which I did very well, by the way, because Emilia and I eliminated another threat to this pack, and have I gotten a single thank you? No! Nothing but accusations—”

“It is my job as your Alpha to make sure you are safe and happy,” Adrian cries.

“And what happens when I’m safe, but I’m not happy?” you ask. “What happens when I watch everyone go out in the field over and over again and it breaks me a little more inside every single time because all I want to do is get out there and help?”

“You—”

“And Emilia needed my help,” you continue. “I was not going to let her go out in the field alone. And what the hell happened? You used to be on my side about this shit. You used to fight with me, fight for me, to get to go out in the field with the rest of the team.”

“It’s different now!”

“It’s not different now. It’s not. How many times are we going to argue about this? I know you have this biological Alpha need to protect me, but you need to get the fuck over it—”

“You almost died!” Adrian yells. “You almost died, and I watched you bleeding out, and you are too fucking important to me, and I won’t risk it!”

You yell right back. “I am still the same person I was before we ever started this! Before you were ever even an Alpha in the first place, Adrian, you knew the type of person that I am. And I will always, always choose to help when someone needs it. Nothing about me has changed just because we’re fucking now! You don’t get to just put me on a shelf like a trophy with a mating mark!”

“Is that all this is to you? We’re just fucking?” Adrian is breathing heavy now, his face flushed red with anger.

“Obviously not! I love you Adrian. You know I love you. But Jesus fucking Christ, if I wanted an overbearing dickbag for an Alpha, I would have mated with your fucking brother,” you snap.

Adrian jerks back like you’ve slapped him in the face. He wishes you would have. It would have hurt less. 

You turn away from him to stalk angrily toward the bedroom, intent on slamming the door in his face. Then the words rise up out of him, so fast and unexpected that he can’t stop them.

“Don’t fucking walk away from me,” he shouts.

You stop on a dime. Not of your own accord. And you turn over your shoulder, pissed.

“Did you just use your fucking Alpha command voice on me?”

I didn’t mean to, is his first panicked thought, and the words are on the tip of his tongue before—he stops himself. His face hardens. Maybe he did mean to.

“I did,” he says. “I didn’t mean to, but—I’m not fucking sorry, you—”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” You’re outraged now. “You are fucking unbelievable. Does it make you feel big and strong, Alpha? To make me do whatever you fucking want?”

The way you say it rattles him. Alpha, not like you always have—like a treasured title—but like an insult, like something pathetic and wrong.

“You wanna try that again, Omega?” he grinds out, trying desperately to hold on to his temper. You don’t even answer him. You’re still trying to walk away. Walk away from him. Your feet are rooted to the floor, and you struggle to try and pick them up. It pisses him the fuck off. “Stop.”

You freeze in place, and now, you don’t even look pissed anymore. You look—upset. Afraid. The room falls dead silent.

“You promised me you wouldn’t ever do this again,” you whisper. “After your brother. You did it to protect me, then, and I didn’t blame you. I forgave you. But you’re doing it to control me, right now, just like he did, and I’m not sure I can forgive you for that.”

Adrian’s heart plummets in his chest when the clarity washes over him.

“No. I—no, baby, please, I didn’t mean to—I—” he stammers, rushing toward you, hands landing on your shoulders. Then he lets go of you like you’ve shocked him. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Omega, I—” He shouldn’t be touching you right now, he doesn’t deserve to be touching you right now, he—

“Undo it,” you say, your voice cracking. “Now. Let me go—”

“I—I don’t—” Adrian doesn’t know what to say to undo what he did. The power of an Alpha command wears off on its own, after a while, but—“You can go,” he tries. You slump with relief when your feet finally pick up off the floor, and you nearly stumble and fall. Adrian catches you before you can hit the ground, stomach twisting with guilt.

“I’m done talking about this,” you say, yanking yourself out of his grasp. Your voice is quiet and hoarse. He hates that your voice sounds like that, that you’re tired from yelling, yelling at him. “Goodnight, Adrian.”

You turn away from him and head to the bedroom, the apartment dead silent except for your footsteps padding on the floor. Then the door shuts behind you with a gentle click, and Adrian starts to cry.

Adrian tag list: @justalotoffanfiction @danversxwasabi @clowninavan @adoresami @a-young-g0d @bastardstevie @am-3-thyst @xoxocamis @morguegrl89 @somethin-sparklyy @secretjesterr @seeingdubs @lovenerdywhitemen2 @jeshomie @aerionshipthrust @deamlucem @tlfg-adrianchase @brianna-merlim @amart-e @countvonklit @pieolsen @gingerjane15 @dosyrosyposy @rentaldarling @vigilcourt @hot-bean-juice @sepaaaaa @residentsuperhero

Adrian made no move to grab it, and she couldn’t find it in herself to do the responsible thing. 

Was it even the responsible thing to pick it up? She tried to justify it to herself. Surely if Adrian wanted it back up he’d pick it up. He was a grown adult, and he was never afraid to voice his opinion or complain when he didn’t like something. The line had already become too blurry with all their fake marriage and the failed mission. 

If she was going to go home after fucking up the mission, she was at the very least going to enjoy nursing her tiny crush on the strange man without the eyes of her coworkers on her.

Those were the brave thoughts, which disappeared quickly as they were both in pajamas and staring at the bed. She couldn’t even bring herself to look at him as she shifted back and forth before finally deciding to just put the ball fully in his court. 

She launched herself on her side and turned her nightstand light off while Adrian was still standing. She pulled the comforter over her waist, lying on her side, and watched the window - trying her best to ignore all of Adrian’s little sounds. Especially as they got closer and closer towards her. For a vigilante who frequently stalked people, he sure was loud as he hummed and walked around. 

She wished she knew the song he was humming, just so she’d have something to talk to him about, but no one ever really seemed to know what was going on in Adrian’s head. 

She felt herself tense when he turned the lights fully off and joined her in the bed. Even though she was laying silently on her side, she felt a shift behind her. Despite the dark she could make out that he was still sitting up slightly, watching her through the window. She wished the window showed her a clearer picture, one that she could actually read what he was thinking. All she could make out was the fact his eyes couldn’t seem to focus on any one part of her. 

She remained still as he moved closer, lying down close behind her. She could feel heat radiating off of him. He was closer to where the pillow was than where he had been resting in the nights prior. She sucked in a breath as his hand came to rest on her waist. They were both still wide awake, her whole body feeling electric from his touch. 

This was completely new from him, unprompted. This wasn’t them playing up an act in front of targets; this was small and just for them. 

It was confusing because Adrian hated gentle touching. He hated human skin. Hell, he had told her just a few days before that he didn’t like soft touches, and yet here he was, holding her like she was the most precious person in his world. 

“Is this okay?” he murmured. She shivered at his mouth being so close to her ear, the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood up. 

“Yeah, that’s fine,” she said tensely. At her words, Adrian tugged her slightly back, his other hand snaking underneath her head on the pillow. Adrian sighed as he relaxed against her and her eyes remained wide open. She fought back a giggle as Adrian started tapping her absentmindedly. Feeling brave, she moved her own hand to grab his hand and fully bring it around her. She tangled their fingers together and she told herself it was to avoid him tickling her more. 

“Your hands are soft,” he murmured, starting to sound sleepy, and she smiled. 

“And yours are clammy,” she teased. His grip loosened, and she tightened hers, not letting him get too far away from her. “I didn’t mean it in a bad way, you’re fine.” He hummed and went back to clutching her hand.

“You’re much nicer to cuddle than Stretch,” he said, and she smiled. 

“The beanie baby?” she asked, amused by the idea of Adrian’s 5’11” frame curling around a tiny beanie baby.

“Yes! You know Stetch?” he asked, squeezing her against him, making her smile. She felt like she was becoming his own personal fidget toy. 

“Yes, I know Stretch. I might’ve been warned he might join our trip,” she said, and Adrian scoffed. 

“Who said that Hacourt? Ads? Surely not Economos.” 

“Chris,” she said, and Adrian gasped. 

“Betrayed by Chris! He knows I don’t take any of my beanie babies on missions! I don’t even take them out of my Vigilante basement!” Adrian defended, and she laughed hard, curling into herself. Adrian laughed and continued to hold her tightly as if this was a normal thing they did. 

“He just let me know in passing, I don’t think it was to make fun of you or anything,” she said, and he sighed. “Besides, you should know by now Adrian, that I’m never going to judge you,” she could feel him get fidgety behind her.

“Is this weird?” he asked suddenly, and she craned her neck, trying to turn to see him, but he kept her in place so she relented and turned back towards the window. She couldn’t see his anymore due to the fact he was practically hiding behind her.

“Is what weird?” she asked. 

“This? Me holding you? Is it…okay?” he asked, sounding almost scared. “I just…with this whole mission there’s like no consent at all really for either of us and I just wanted to know what it would be like to hold you…if you know…” he sucked in a quick breath. “WeBothGotToChoose” he rushed out, and she laughed. 

“If what?” 

“If we both got to choose!” he yelled directly in her ear and she flinched. Adrian winced, clearly apologetic.

“Oh, well…I don’t know if it’s normal,” she answered honestly. “But I like it.” 

“I like it too,” he whispered. “You’re warm and nice and just…really pretty.” 

“Oh,” she said, blinking and trying to process what he was saying. “I…I think you’re really handsome too,” she whispered, and Adrian laughed. 

“You don’t have to lie,” he said, being dead serious and she shook her head. 

“I’m not Adrian. You’re…really attractive,” she said and when she could feel him tense she found herself starting to ramble. “I mean, Adrian you’re really nice, you always check in on me, you bring me coffee. You were one of the first people at Checkmate who came up to get to know me and you just…you’re a good person.”

“Oh,” he said. “I never knew you thought of me like that.”

“I never knew you thought I was really pretty,” she whispered, and silence swallowed them both. The words of a confession are almost there and yet still so far away. Neither of them felt any braver than before.

“You’re more than just really pretty!” he defended. “I love the way you have the best candy out of everyone’s candy dish, and how you always check in on me after a mission. You never laugh at me and you’re just…you always make my day better. You have way more value than just a pretty face, I would never ever reduce you to that,” he finished sounding more confident and almost angry near the end. 

“Thank you, Adrian.” she whispered. 

“I mean it,” he said, squeezing her as if that would make her believe him. 

“How are you feeling about the fact we’re more than likely going home from this mission empty handed?” she said after a beat, clearly not wanting to sit any longer with his words weighing down on both of them. She was too nervous, too scared for what would come next. 

“We’re not! We still have two nights left!” he said, and she sighed. 

“Adrian, we have nothing. I mean, what are we going to say to the others at the debrief? We’re sorry we failed?” she said, unable to hide her snark. 

“We’re not going to fail,” Adrian said softly. “You’re smart and an amazing agent. We still have two whole days left and Economos gave us two leads! Two! Dinner and the club!” 

“But what if that’s not enough?” she whispered, knowing if she was facing Adrian there would be no way she would be able to voice these worries. 

“You know you’re an amazing agent, right?” Adrian asked after a beat, she blinked and turned her head, barely seeing him out of the corner of her eye. He looked nervous as he watched her. 

“What?” 

“I just mean…maybe I’m overstepping, but like you’re just as good of an agent as Harcourt and me and Chris and just everyone at Checkmate. You got the job because you’re qualified and we trust you. If we go back empty handed everyone will understand, I understand. One bad mission is not going to change any of this.” 

“What if it’s still not enough,” she whispered. 

“Then it’s not enough and we go back and tell them and if needed, we come back with more support. Fuck we can just tell them it’s my fault, I don’t care,” he said simply. “Yes it sucks to go home with nothing but even on the most boring of stakeouts you learn something!”

“Yeah? What are we learning by fucking up here?” she said with a scoff. 

“That Chris is terrible at writing dossiers and shouldn’t be in charge of mission info,” he said, and she laughed hard, for a moment leaning away from him. He held her tightly, bending with her as if being apart would be too much. “But I’m serious, we’ll be fine.” 

“I just don’t think that’s going to be enough,” she said. 

“Yes, it is because even if we come back with nothing we learned somewhere someone either lied or we lost some valuable information. Or maybe the person that hired us was trying to trick us or something. Hell, I don’t know. We’ll go back, regroup and figure it out. We will be fine, you’re going to be fine,” he pushed, trying to get her to understand. 

“Yeah, I guess,” she said. 

“We still need to get everyone souvenirs,” Adrian said, and she let out a laugh. His ability to flip her mood so 360 wasn’t lost on her. 

“What? All those Combos weren’t enough?” she said with a chuckle, and Adrian scoffed. 

“No, I think we should get them something. What do you think? Magnets? Postcards? Pencils?” he asked. 

“We can just get a couple of each and let everyone pick what they want?” she tried and Adrian laughed, squeezing her against him. His laugh made her smile, despite the weight of the mission on her, in Adrian’s arms and him laughing it all felt so small and far away. 

“See! You’re so smart. We are going to figure all this out, I promise.” he said, shaking her slightly as if he could shake his belief in her, she fought the urge to hide away, letting Adrian see her smile in the window reflection. 

She closed her eyes and released a sigh, focusing on the feeling of his arms around her as her smile grew. He did have a special way of easing her mind.  

“I thought you didn’t like soft touching?” she whispered, fighting back sleep more and more at Adrian’s weight and warmth around her. 

“I don’t…it’s just different with you,” he said softly, sounding almost surprised at the feeling. “Get some rest, okay? We have a lot of work tomorrow and I know I can’t keep carrying our little duo here,” he joked and she huffed 

“You wish you were on my level,” she murmured, finally succumbing to sleep, but not until Adrian’s last words hit her ears.

“I wish that too,” in almost a sad tone.

_

Tag List (comment if you’d like to be added!)

@trelaney @kierselleboogie @v1gilanteloser @quietlybitchy @lil-rigatoni @snowyathena @tez0 @danversxwasabi @obsessedromancereader @pandanapping @burningluminarysheep @a-young-g0d @4duniadae @countvonklit @suzucain @p1xelplanets @freyafriggafrey @vigilickme @deepblizzarddreaming @ibelyss @lovenerdywhitemen2

Claire and Adrian were the spitting image of each other, so much so that when she had Claire she could’ve sworn she was about to spit out some incorrect animal facts instead of crying. Adrian adored her from the start, she wasn’t sure she would ever see Adrian love anything more than he loved and cared for her, but he took to being a dad like a fish to water. He was obsessed with her, knew what she needed before she could even blink and was always there for her. Despite all his worries and fears, Adrian was an amazing father. 

It was hard on all three of them when Adrian was away on missions, but she would never ask Adrian to sacrifice being Vigilante for them, not when he was always so well aware of how his absence was around that house. 

“No! I know the rules! Plus daddy said if I follow the rules that we could get a lizard!” Claire said, jumping up and down as she opened the mailbox, pulling out the mail and handing it to her mom as she did every day. Once she had the mail in her hands, Claire took off towards the front door and she smiled following behind her. 

“Yeah, we’ll see about the lizard, daddy might’ve said it’s okay but daddy didn’t talk to mommy about that,” she grumbled as she closed the door, Claire already running for the kitchen as she flipped through the mail. 

“Uncle Chris has an eagle though!” She complained.

“What does Uncle Chris having an eagle have anything to do with you getting a lizard?” She asked, sighing at the familiar beat of Adrian’s arguments, never really seeing the connections between two clear points. 

“Well, daddy says I’m cooler than Uncle Chris so I need a cooler pet!” She said it like it was the most obvious thing on the planet. She chuckled at her daughter's logic that very much matched her fathers.

“Alright, well we’ll see.” She said, handing Claire a pack of muffins before she started going through the mail. 

She wasn’t surprised to see the usual junk mail and bills, but one letter that was clearly handwritten caught her eye. 

It was addressed to Adrian with a return address, but no name and forwarded from his mom’s house. It had been years since they had gotten anything forwarded from there let alone something looking as intentional as a handwritten letter. She’s not even sure the last time they got a letter like that period. 

She spared Claire a look as she watched her hum as she ate her snack, doing a little dance as she enjoyed her sweet treat. Even though it was a little early she stepped out of the room and dialed Adrian’s number. 

“Hey, baby! You’re early, is everything okay? Did Claire get off the bus okay?” Adrian answered immediately and she smiled at his instant worry for them. She sat on the edge of the couch, perching where she could still see Claire, but be far away enough that the young girl wouldn’t notice. 

“Yeah, we’re both okay. Strange question for you though, are you expecting a letter?” She asked, looking at the letter in her hands. 

“I never know what’s coming in our mailbox, you know that,” he answered and she chuckled. 

“Okay good point, but there’s a letter here for you and it looks to be handwritten,” she said.

“A letter to me? Like handwritten?” He asked, sounding surprised on the phone. 

“Yeah, it’s forwarded from your mom’s. There’s a return address but no name,” she said, turning the envelope over again, but there was really no clue to who it could be from. 

“Who the fuck is sending me a letter?” He asked and she laughed. 

“No offense baby but that’s what I’m trying to figure out,” she said and Adrian huffed out a laugh. “Can I open it or do you want to wait till you get back?” 

“It’s funny you think I can wait that long and that I won’t be thinking of the envelope the entire time till I get back if you don’t open it right now,” he said dead serious and she laughed. 

“Alright, alright,” she said, holding the phone between her ear and shoulder as she teared open the letter and pulled out a single handwritten page. “huh,” she said as she looked at the name, her stomach instantly turning.

“What? What is it?” 

“It’s a letter from your dad,” she said, skimming the page, “he’s inviting us to his house for the fourth of July.” 

“Who?” He asked, voice was tight and she could tell that he was starting to pace, her heart cracked a little picturing the sight of him panicking alone in a shitty room, far away from her. 

“Your dad,” she repeated as gently as possible but even over the phone she could tell how even the concept of the letter was affecting him. 

“Can you read it all to me?” He asked, sounding suddenly small over the phone and she closed her eyes, wishing either of them had had the patience to wait to do this till Adrian was home where she could comfort him. 

“‘Dear Adrian, I hope you’re doing well. I heard from your mom that you got married and you’ve had your first child! I want to wish you congratulations, that’s such a huge milestone and you should be really proud. I know it’s been a while, but I wanted to invite you and your family to come down to visit me in San Francisco for the fourth of July. We clearly have so much to catch up on! I’ve attached my number so we can figure out timing and plans! I hope to hear from you soon. Your dad, Charles Chase.’” She read in a soft voice, her eyes on Claire once she was done reading, the small girl had finished her snack and had already moved onto pulling out her homework. She listened to Adrian breathing on the other end, waiting for him to say anything. “Baby, you there?” 

“Yeah, I’m here,” he said softly. 

“You don’t have to decide what we do right now, we can talk about it-”

“We don’t need to talk about we’re not going,” he said immediately and she could feel the tension over the phone. 

“Adrian-”

“No, why the fuck would we go? Why the fuck would we subject Claire to that? I haven’t heard from him in almost 15 years and you want us to do what? Go to his house and act like nothing has happened? No, we’re not going,” Adrian said and she frowned as he clicked the phone, hanging up on her. She sighed, fidgeting with the phone and the letter as she thought of Adrian, either alone in his room or immediately putting on his Vigilante suit to stop some low level criminals, anything to just feel like this wasn’t happening to him.

God, she should’ve waited the moment she realized what the letter was and who it was from. Getting Adrian to talk about his upbringing at all was like pulling teeth, most of what she had learned was from his mom and even then she wasn’t sure what was really true. It was clear to her that his mom seemed to remember everything with rose colored glasses, especially considering how Gut behaved the one time she had met him. 

Her phone started buzzing in her hand and she was met with her favorite picture of Adrian with Claire when she was a toddler. She immediately answered. 

“Adrian-”

“I love you,” he interrupted. “I’m sorry for hanging up on you, but I’m upset and I hate this,” he breathed out and she smiled. 

“I love you too, baby. I’m sorry for upsetting you.” She said as she stood up and walked back to the kitchen, Clarie immediately honed in on the fact that she was holding the phone. Claire dropped her color pencil and started jumping up and down reaching for her phone. 

“It’s not your fault he wrote a letter,” he said, “I just fuck, that’s a lot to unpack.”

“Do you want to feel better about it?” She asked, brushing Claire’s dark curls back, ones that matched her father’s, as she looked down at her. 

“I really don’t think there’s anything you can say-” he started and she smiled as she put the phone on speaker, crouching down to Claire’s level. 

“Daddy!” Claire yelled into the phone and Adrian’s voice stopped dead in its tracks. 

“Hi, Claire Polar Bear! Are you being good for your mom?” Adrian asked, his voice immediately changed, no hint of him being upset remained. 

“I am not a polar bear!” Claire immediately said, giving a hard almost fake sounding laugh just like Adrian’s. 

“I wouldn’t know, last time I saw you I could’ve sworn you were a polar bear!” 

“Daddy!” 

“I’m sorry, princess. How was school today?” He asked and she helped Claire back into her chair, placing her phone on the counter so Claire could keep talking while she started moving around. 

“It was good, mommy said I could get a lizard,” she whispered into the phone, leaning over the counter. 

“Claire Anne Chase, you do not lie especially to your father,” she immediately said and Claire shyly looked away from her mom. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered and she gave her a small smile. 

“Yeah, baby you know better. Plus, I hate to break it to you, but daddy knows mommy like the back of his hand so he knew that was a lie,” he admitted and she immediately wanted to comment on the fact that she knew Adrian and she knew even though he was putting on a brave face in this moment he was still struggling internally. 

And she had no idea how to make it okay. 

“Daddy, when are you coming home?” Claire said, snapping her out of her own spiral as Adrian chuckled. 

“I’ll get home tomorrow while you’re at school, okay? I will be home and ready to play when you’re back from school,” he said and Claire frowned, bouncing slightly. 

“Will you pick me up from the bus stop?” Claire asked and she chuckled. 

“What, you don’t want mommy to pick you up anymore?” She joked and Claire smiled slightly. 

“No! I want both mommy AND daddy to pick me up!” Claire said like to was the most obvious thing on the planet. 

“Of course, baby. We’ll both be there tomorrow.” Adrian said softly on the phone and she smiled. Moving to get to work on dinner while Claire and Adrian both chattered away, but her thoughts kept drifting back to the letter. 

She knew Adrian was not going to address it, in fact the moment he found the letter in the house he was going to get rid of it in some way. He was going to refuse to talk to her about whether it was the right thing or not. It had taken years to truly get Adrian to unpack how rough his childhood was. Between his mom losing it, Gut tormenting him, and his dad just leaving; Adrian’s happy memories were few and far between. He always played it off like it didn’t bother him but she noticed the way little comments would get to him and how he was eager to distance his new family away from his old family, keeping them in a protective bubble.  

She was sure that had a lot to do with why Adrian cared so much about Claire’s childhood from day one. Taking lots of pictures, being there for every moment, and as the years went on being at her beck and call. Convincing Adrian to start taking in field missions again after essentially being on two years of training and desk duty just out of fear of being too far away from them took months of talking and begging him to see that both of you would be okay. That he didn’t have to kill himself worrying about them all the time - that he can have his life as Vigilante and them too. 

Even then, it took time to get him back into the routine. 

However the moment she heard Adrian’s key turn in their front door a few hours before Claire should be home she could feel the tension. She was slow to move towards the front of the house, meeting a very disheveled Adrian at the front door as he dropped his heavy duffle bag. 

“Oh baby,” she murmured as she walked towards him, taking him in her arms as he grabbed her tightly. He shoved his head in the crook of her neck, breathing her in with a shaky breath. “That bad?” She asked as he nodded against her. 

She stayed silent and steady as he held onto her for dear life and she couldn’t tell if his reaction was because of the mission or because his thoughts were still scrambled from the letter from his dad.

“Are you hurt?” She asked as gently as possible and he sighed, finally prying himself just far away enough from her that she could see his eyes.

“I’m not hurt,” he said, voice scratchy and she kissed his cheek, content in the knowledge that at this point Adrian knew to always tell her if he got hurt. No more bleeding out alone in his car while he napped, hoping his body would mend. 

“We’ve got about two hours before Claire gets home, you want to take a shower and I’ll make you something to eat?” She said, holding his face between her hands as he gave her a lazy smile. 

“Shower with me?” He asked and she gave him a light glare before nodding. 

“Go put your bag away and I’ll get the shower ready,” she said, giving his cheek a pat before heading towards the bathroom. She immediately turned the shower to probably way too hot and undressed. 

“My favorite view,” he teased in a sleepy voice as he dragged himself into the bathroom, she smiled looking over her shoulder at him as she moved over to help him take off his clothes. Her fingers traced over old scars and a few new bruises that would probably be gone by time they were out of the shower. 

“I thought you weren’t hurt?” She demanded, hand ghosting over the bruise as Adrian tensed, not from pain but from being caught. 

“It’s old?” He tried and she looked at him and he immediately crumbled. “It’ll be healed before Claire gets home, it’s not a big deal.” 

“It is to me, Ade. Anytime you’re hurt is a big deal, even if it’s a paper cut, okay? I want-” she doesn’t get to finish because Adrian’s hand came to her chin and lifted her gaze up to his eyes. He had the smallest smile on his face before he leaned in for a soft and gentle kiss. 

“I love you,” he murmured against her mouth as she clicked her tongue. 

“Don’t think that gets you off the hook, mister,” she said, pulling away to check the temperature of the shower, Adrian holding her other hand as she gave him a small tug as she stepped into the warm water. 

When they picked this house Adrian had made sure that almost every room had the space to allow them to do typically separate tasks together. They had dual sinks to brush their teeth together, their kitchen was big enough that they could easily cook together (her cooking, Adrian sitting on the counter claiming to help), and that their shower could easily fit them both under the large spray of water. Even in her office, Adrian had his own chair, one that recently got a smaller matching one for Claire. 

She moved slowly as she started washing his hair, careful to untangle any knots. Adrian hummed as she scrubbed, but other than that he wasn’t his normal chatterbox self. Normally by now she would’ve heard all about the mission, all the animals he’d saw, and-

“I missed you so much,” he murmured, wrapping his arms around her, tighter than normal and forcing her to stop her washing. A deep frown on her features as she wrapped her arms around him, careful to not get any conditioner on her as she kissed his neck. 

“I missed you too, baby,” she whispered. “Let me finish and then we can rest before Claire gets home.” 

“Can we order dinner tonight?” He asked, pulling back just enough so she could continue to work but his hands stayed put on his waist, rubbing circles with his thumbs. She finished washing his hair and pulled apart just enough to get to work on cleaning his body. She knew he could do this himself and normally he’d put up a fight on the fact she was taking care of him and he wasn’t doing anything, but he was so off he just went through the motions as she worked. 

“What are you in the mood for?” She asked, as she scrubbed him down. 

“Anything you and Claire want,” he said immediately and she smiled. 

“You know exactly what she’s going to ask for, so are you sure you want to do that?” She teased gently and Adrian let out a small chuckle. 

“Her obsession with Italian food should be studied.”

“Makes sense, when we first got together we were eating Fennel Fields like every other night,” she said as she moved to turn off the water. “Plus before I came around you pretty much only liked butter noodles,” she teased. 

“Okay, that’s not true. Just because that was my favorite doesn’t mean it was all I liked,” he said frowning and she smiled as she pulled on her robe and grabbed his to help him put on. “Plus now I much prefer chicken alfredo and mozzarella sticks.” 

“Yeah your palate has really matured,” she muttered with a smile. “Do you want me to put curl cream in your hair and diffuse it?” She asked and Adrian shook his head no. 

“Let’s go nap,” he said and she led them back to the bed, where Adrian immediately collapsed face down. She laughed and joined him, curling into his side with one hand and leg thrown over him and her face pressed against his shoulder. Almost like his own personal weighted blanket. She felt Adrian sigh underneath her as she played with his damp hair. 

“Was the mission that rough?” she asked gently and Adrian took a minute, the air around them wasn’t necessarily tense but she wouldn’t call it comfortable either. She continued playing with his hair, her concern rising the longer it took her normally blabbermouth husband to talk. 

“No, it was fine,” he finally answered. 

“Are you okay?” she tried, playfully tugging his hair so he would turn his head just enough to make him look at her. He’s got a look on his face that she has a hard time reading, like he wasn’t fully sure if he wanted to talk. “Adrian,” she pressed. 

“Did you get rid of the letter?” 

“No,” she said gently. “I put it up, but you don’t have to look at it if you don’t want to.” 

“Can you go grab it?” he asked and she nodded and slowly moved out of the room. Pulling the letter out of the junk drawer, knowing Adrian rarely actually looks in that drawer rather he just throws random stuff in it for her to find later. As she walked back in the room, the letter held in both her hands Adrian had sat up, still in his robe. 

“Here,” she said, handing it to him. To offer him some privacy she moved around their room as slowly as possible getting dressed in some comfy clothes, keeping her back towards him. When she finally turned around to look at him he’s still holding the unopened letter in his hands. 

“Did you tell Claire about the letter?” He asked softly, catching her eyes as she walked back over towards him. She climbed back on the bed, moving behind him as she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned against him. 

“No, baby, just you,” she said as he nodded. Those words seemed to snap him out of it as he pulled away getting out of bed, shoving the letter in his nightstand as he started getting ready to get Claire off the bus. “Ade, we’ve got a couple hours so you can relax, you don’t have to get ready just because I did.” 

“I think I’m going to go on a run,” he mumbled as he pulled on his underwear and moved for his work out clothes and she was quick to get up and stop him from getting any further. 

“Hey,” she said gently, her hands cupping his face. “I’ve missed you, please don’t come home and just shut down on me.” 

“I’m not trying to,” he murmured, leaning towards her, almost a subconscious movement. 

“We don’t have to talk about the letter now, let’s just get you rested and ready for the tornado that is our daughter, okay?” she asked and Adrian cracked a smile at the mention of Claire.

“Okay,” he relented. The next few hours went by slowly as she finished helping Adrian get ready to at least pretend to be normal. Together they unpack his bag, she moves to start his laundry as she he makes his way to their basement to put his gear away. 

Her mind kept drifting back to the letter, shoved in his nightstand. She would tell it was weighing on him and Adrian never did great with addressing things that bother him. He’d much prefer to cut whatever was bothering him out and ignore it. It had been a slow progress to get Adrian to address issues head on instead of hiding them and he had made great progress once he finally had a listening ear, but when it came to his family and childhood he would just shut down. 

She had dragged some information out of Chris early on, mainly about Gut and just how awful he was towards Adrian when they were both in high school and the first time she saw a picture of younger Adrian she had to fight back tears thinking about the hell his own brother put him through and the fact he had no one to defend him. 

She had her arms wrapped around his middle, chin resting on his shoulder as they both stood at the end of the driveway waiting for Claire’s school bus. Adrian's arms holding hers against him, she loosened her grip the moment she spotted the yellow bus heading towards their house. 

“Daddy!” Claire shouted from the moment the bus stopped. She covered her mouth to stifle a laugh as she listened to Claire practically scream as she ran off the bus. Adrian was already on one knee as Claire threw herself at him, he lifted her up and spun her around, his laugh loud and carefree. 

“I missed you baby girl!” He said as she waved to the bus driver as they pulled away. One of her hands came to rest on Adrian’s shoulder as she kissed Claire's cheek. 

“We have so much to do!” Claire immediately said squirming out of Adrian’s grip, Adrian put her down and the little girl grabbed his hand and started pulling him up the driveway. “I checked out a new reptile book for us and we still have to finish our clay animals! Mommy said they’ll be dry now that you’re back!” 

She smiled as she followed the two up the driveway while Claire blabbered about everything Adrian had missed while he was away. She gave them their space and let Adrian enjoy some decompressing time with Claire. She handled dinner, not even bothering to interrupt them as she knew their orders like the back of her hand. 

“You do dishes, I’m going to get her ready for bed,” she said softly, kissing Adrian’s cheek as he hummed in agreement. 

“Don’t start a book without me!” He called after her and she laughed, shaking her head but at least happy that Adrian was seeming to be coming around somewhat normally. 

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Chase!” She said back as she ushered Claire into her room and started going through her nighttime routine, pajamas, brushing her teeth, and resetting her room. One that Claire was moving slower than normal through, especially considering she knew Adrian would be coming to read to her and according to Claire ‘Daddy does the story voices way better than Mommy.’ 

“Daddy is being weird,” Claire whispered, her little hang tugging at her shirt to bring her closer. She gave her daughter a small smile as she cupped her little cheeks. 

“He’s had a weird day,” she said softly. Claire frowned, worry etched on her little features, an expression she had seen a thousand times from Adrian. Sometimes her heart ached with how much Claire was such a mini Adrian, imagining him when he was small and alone.  

“But he’ll be okay?” She asked and she felt her heart clench. She was glad Adrian wasn’t in earshot of this conversation because it would shatter his heart to hear how worried Claire was for him. 

“Yeah, baby, he’ll be okay,” she said, pulling her daughter in for a much needed hug. “He has us.” 

“I vote for the Grumpy Lady Bug tonight! What do you think, Claire Brown Bear?” Adrian said, clapping his hands as he walked into the room, a smile plastered on his face. 

She let Adrian handle putting Claire down as she wrapped up the household chores and shutting the house down for the night. Normally, Adrian would come out and at the very least sit on the counter and yap while she worked, but tonight all she heard was him wrap up with Claire and head to their bedroom. 

When she finally joined him, he was sitting up in bed in his pajamas but his nightstand light was still on and his eyes were on the ceiling. She moved around the room, getting herself ready for bed before climbing into his arms in the bed. He was quick to wrap her up and press a kiss to her forehead. 

“I’m so glad you’re home,” she said gently, sighing and pushing herself closer to him. Adrian squeezed her. 

“Me too,” he murmured. She let the silence take over the room as she listened closely to Adrian’s heart beat. 

“Did you read the letter?” she finally asked after Adrian made no movement to turn off his light. 

“Yeah,” he said with a sigh. 

“And what are you thinking?” she asked, looking up at him as he pulled off his glasses and sat them on his nightstand, his hand coming back to play with her hair. Her gaze returned to the wall in an attempt to give him some space. 

“Same thing I said on the phone,” he muttered and she frowned. 

“We could go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium," she whispered against his chest as he tensed underneath her. “We could go see Alcatraz, I’m pretty sure San Francisco has a killer science museum too.” 

Adrian hummed, but didn’t say anything. She moved her head so her chin was resting on his chest, her eyes locked on his face as he looked at the ceiling. She could feel his heart racing underneath her. 

“It’s one week, one chance, Ade.” She insisted. 

“He doesn’t deserve it.”

“Okay, maybe that’s true, but don’t you think Claire deserves it?” She pressed and she could see Adrian’s argument weaken on his face. 

“He’s just some guy! She has no idea that she even has a grandfather!” He complained and despite herself she laughed. 

“You think that she just thinks you came out of nowhere with no parents?” She said with a chuckle. “Baby, I know she’s five but she is starting to understand the world around her and she knows we both have parents. I know she’s not asking questions now, but trust me one day she will.” 

“She can ask questions, that’s different from meeting him,” he retorted, sitting up and the moment she sat up too he scooted away from her, a pained look on his expression. 

“Adrian, I’m not trying to upset you. I’m just making sure you fully understand what you’re saying.”

“I do understand! It’s him that doesn’t understand; he left! He doesn’t just get to come back into my life now because he wants to!” 

“Okay,” she said gently, watching as his chest was rising and falling fast, clearly on the verge of a breakdown. She moved closer to him, as if he was a spooked animal. Her hand came to rest on his cheek, moving his face to look at her. His green eyes were wild and filled with unshed tears. “Baby, it’s okay. I understand. I just want you to understand what you’re saying no to, okay?” 

“I do understand and I just can’t-” 

“Is Daddy okay?” Both their heads whipped around to see Claire standing in the doorway, her teal baby blanket clutched tightly in one hand as her eyes were on Adrian. Her eyes filled with tears to match Adrian’s. 

“Oh baby,” she said gently and the little girl quickly ran over to them, pulling herself onto the bed and wrapping her arms around him. Adrian closed his eyes and held her tight as the young girl started sobbing. 

“We don’t have to go to ‘Francisco! Don’t cry, daddy!” she said and Adrian tensed and looked at her. 

“You told her?” he accused, eyes wide on her. 

“No!” 

“I heard you guys talking, but we don’t have to go on a trip! I love Evergreen, we don’t ever have to leave!” 

“It’s a little more complicated than that, baby,” she said gently scooting closer to them both, hand resting on Claire’s back as she let out a cry.

“I don’t understand!” Claire cried, pulling at Adrian’s shirt. She gave Adrian an apologetic look. 

Before pulling back Adrian, wiped away his own tears so Claire wouldn’t see. Something she hadn’t seen Adrian do in a long time, always feeling comfortable with her and Claire. He had even remarked on multiple occasions on how important it was for Claire to see people cry and be vulnerable.

“Daddy’s dad wants to meet you and mommy, but me and my dad don’t get along like you and me do. I haven’t seen him in a very long time,” Adrian said gently, eyes locked on Claire. “Mommy thinks we should give him a chance, but I’m not sure because it's been a really long time. What do you think?” He asked Claire who genuinely seemed to ponder the question. 

“And he’s in ‘Francisco?" 

“San Francisco, baby. It’s a city in California,” she added gently and Claire looked at her. Her little eyes searched her face for an answer she didn’t have. 

“If we go, will you be sad? I don’t want to go if you’ll be sad,” Claire said and her heart clenched, for such a young girl to have such high empathy and worry for her father, it was both sweet and devastating. Adrian shrugged, his hands fidgeting slightly. 

“Maybe a little, but over anything I want to make sure you’re happy and if you want to meet him then we can do that,” Adrian said and she gave him a soft smile, knowing just how much he was sacrificing. 

“Are there cool animals in San Francisco?” Claire asked and Adrian let out an unexpected laugh. 

“Yeah, baby. Mommy was just telling me there’s an aquarium we could go to,” he said gently, his eyes went to hers and he nodded at her. 

“I think we can try San Francisco and if we hate it we never have to go back,” Claire said with a shrug and Adrian smiled at her. 

“Alright, then mommy and daddy will figure out the details, but let’s get you back to bed!” Adrian said, grabbing Claire and making her laugh as he spun her around. He was quick to move her so he was holding her upside down as her laugh filled their home. 

“Oh yes, get her riled up before putting her to bed, that’s smart,” she said dryly but couldn’t help the smile on her face as she caught Adrian’s green eyes. He gave her a small smile and a nod, a moment just for them to realize that even if he wasn’t sure he’d go through it if it was something his family wanted for him. 

The next few months passed slowly, she could tell it was always on the back of his mind as she handled all the communication with his dad and booking their flights. His dad was ecstatic to hear from her, even more excited when she sent over a family photo of them to help with airport pick up, immediately commenting on how much Claire looked like Adrian when he was her age. She tried to talk to Adrian about what his dad was saying and the plan but every time he would get a sick look on his face and get fidgety, so she decided not to push it. Even Claire seemed to be aware of how weird Adrian was being and kept her excitement about the trip to a minimum. 

But even that fact seemed to be weighing heavy on Adrian, the idea that his family felt like they had to walk around eggshells around him was causing a growing ache in his bones.

“Is this a good idea?” he murmured the night before they were supposed to leave, head resting on her chest while her hand played with his hair, as she used her other hand to check in for their flights. 

“The flights are non refundable, Ade.” she whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. “It’s one week and I’ve already got us tickets for stuff for just the three of us to do. I’m sure your dad will understand you need space.”

“What if he doesn’t?”

“Then I’ll tell him? Adrian, I know this is stressful and it might not feel like it but at the end of the day you’re still an adult and at any point the three of us could go take a walk or go to dinner. Hell, you could even go by yourself if you needed some time.” 

After that Adrian didn’t say anything more about it, opting instead to press sweet kisses to her neck before she put her phone down, laughing as he pulled himself on top of her smile plastered on his face. 

“I love you, you know that right?” He murmured against her ear as he pressed a kiss to the side of her face. 

“I don’t think you’d ever let me forget you,” she said, hands running through his curls. “My lover boy,” she purred. Adrian smiled before pressing a firm but open mouth kiss on her lips. 

“Is the door locked?” he asked, looking at her with a slight twinkle in his eyes and she laughed. 

“Bold of you to assume this is going the way you want it to go, but yes our room door is locked,” she teased, having zero intention of telling Adrian no. She let out a sharp laugh as he blew a raspberry on her neck. “You better get to work, because Claire is still going to wake up at six even without school.” 

“I’ll wake up with her,” he murmured, licking up her neck before going to pull off her sleep shirt. 

“Yeah and that’ll last five minutes before you both end up missing me so much that you feel like you have to wake me up,” she said, a small gasp escaping her as Adrian got to work. 

“Come on, you know last time it was at least twenty minutes,” he teased and she giggled. “Besides, it’ll be our last chance till we get back.” 

“Then you better make it last, Chase.” 

Adrian’s good mood lasted through the morning, but once it was time to head to the airport and Chris had come and got the three of them to drop them off he was back to being shut down. Chris couldn’t even get much out of him, outside of a small promise that Chris would score some more appliances for the two before he got back from California Adrian’s expression was unchanging. Despite her concern she let Adrian just…feel what he needed to feel and simply just held his hand, giving him a comforting squeeze as they navigated their way through their first out of state vacation as a family. 

The airport was surprisingly a breeze and Claire did a great job making sure she either had her hand or Adrian’s. Her plane backpack filled with a few of her favorite books and some art supplies, however she spent most of the time looking around the airport and all the different people. Only crinkling her nose when she had to take her shoes off for security, matching Adrian’s expression. 

Once they were on the plane Adrian had taken the aisle seat, Claire in the middle, and her in the window seat.  

“Ade, we gotta talk about something before we get there,” she said looking over Claire, who had her headphones in watching Bluey, to Adrian in the aisle seat. He looked over, looking exhausted, despite the fact that it was only eight in the evening.

“What?” 

“How are we going to introduce him to Claire?” She asked softly and Adrian tilted his head. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Like he’s your dad she knows that, but is she going to call him by his name, Poppop, gramps, something else?” She asked and Adrian furrowed his brow. 

“We’re mommy and daddy, why would he be anything other than grandpa? She calls my mom grandma,” he said, shuffling in his seat and she nodded. 

“Okay, that works, I just…wanted you to be prepared.” 

“I don’t think I could be prepared even if I wanted to,” Adrian muttered, clicking on the seat TV and groaning when he realized they only had 45 minutes left of the flight. “Is it too late to go home?” 

“Ade…”

“I know! I know!” He grumbled and she reached over Claire and awkwardly grabbed his hand. He immediately squeezed it back. “I’m glad you guys are at least with me for this.” 

“Adrian, of course. We both love you, I love you. I’m always happy to be there for you,” she said, emphasizing her words hoping that Adrian really heard her and understood what she was saying. He smiled before leaning back in his seat. 

The rest of the flight passed in silence, Claire falling asleep during the last twenty minutes and Adrian opted for carrying Claire off the plane instead of waking up, only pouting slightly when she grabbed their bags since his arms were full. It became clear his ulterior motives of carrying her once they finally bumped into his dad. 

If his arms were full, his dad couldn’t hug him. 

She wanted to roll her eyes at the action, but she knew him being here was enough of a struggle.

“Mr. Chase! It’s so nice to meet you in person!” she said, offering the man the hug that he was clearly expecting to get from Adrian. He was shorter than she was expecting considering how tall Adrian and Gut were, his eyes were also a sharp blue, nothing like the dark green of Adrians. In fact the only thing that looked remotely similar between the two men were the gray curls on top of his head. 

“Call me Charles! It’s so nice to meet you too and oh my goodness is this Claire!” he asked, pulling back and looking at Adrian who shifted uncomfortably, but at least moved so he could see her sleeping face, her carseat clenched tightly in his freehand. “Adrian, she looks just like you were at that age!” 

“It’s past her bedtime, so we probably should go back to the house and get her down,” Adrian said looking at her and she nodded. 

“It was her first time traveling and I think all the new people really wore her out,” she said, smiling at the older man who nodded, clearly fighting the defeat on his face from Adrian’s lack of a reaction towards him. 

“Of course, of course. Here let me take one of those bags! The car is just in the garage, probably a five minute walk!” he said and she nodded letting him take her bag as she readjusted Claire’s backpack on her back and pulled Adrian’s suitcase as they followed his dad. She was closer to him than Adrian who seemed perfectly content staying a few paces behind them. 

“We haven’t gotten to use these since our honeymoon,” she said, making conversation with Charles since Adrian wasn’t going to step up.

“Oh! Well, I’m excited you guys decided to come out then. Where did you guys honeymoon?” He asked and she couldn’t help the small laugh that bubbled out. 

“We went to Indianapolis actually,” she said, turning to look at Adrian briefly, remembering the two weeks they spent in the midwest. All their friends had teased them about their location choice, but she would go anywhere with Adrian and when he had brought up the random city with his research she couldn’t say no. “They have this really famous steakhouse that had been on our list for a while and they’ve got some really cool museums, a zoo, and a lot of bookstores.” 

“We actually stayed at a hotel that used to be a Coca Cola bottling plant!” Adrian said, piping in for the first time with a smile. “It was also right next to a Duckpin bowling place with like thirty different pinball machines!” 

“Wow, I mean that sounds like…fun,” he said, not sounding convinced and out of the corner of her eye she saw Adrian deflate slightly. 

“It really was,” she said confidently. “I wouldn’t have picked anywhere else. How many people get to say they pet a shark on their honeymoon?” 

The rest of the walk to the car was quiet, but at least not as awkward as she thought it would be. Adrian was quick to get Claire’s carseat situated and the girl in her seat, closing the door slowly but firmly so as to not wake her. 

“It’s about an hour car ride,” Charles said as she got into the front seat, already knowing Adrian would want to be in the back with Claire. “Do you guys have any music preference or we can just chat on the ride?”

“We probably shouldn’t talk so Claire can sleep,” Adrian said immediately, his hand snaking between the passenger door and her shoulder to rest on her arm. She patted his hand and gave Charles a look, trying to convey an apology for Adrian, but the man just sighed and didn’t even bother looking over at her before he started driving. 

Adrian kept his hand on her, even if it was an awkward angle. She could tell he needed to be grounded, but there was not much she could do in the car. The hour passed slow and steady, she kept her phone out just in case Adrian wanted to send her a text. He didn’t but at least once they got to the house Adrian let her carry Claire as he carried their luggage. 

“I’ve got you guys set up in the guest room and if you’d like the couch pulls out so Claire could sleep there that way you guys can have some privacy!” Charles offered as he opened the door to a beautiful decorated room, filled with an almost retro vibe and a huge window that overlooked not only the neighborhood but she could see the ocean in the distance since they were high up on a hill. She couldn’t help the smile on her face, she loved Evergreen, but San Francisco was starting to steal her heart. 

“No, she’ll stay in here with us,” Adrian said immediately, putting their luggage on the bed as Claire rubbed her face on her shoulder, still passed out from the long day. She watched Adrain as he kept his back towards his dad as he started unpacking, clearly done with the conversation. 

“We’ll talk about it, but for tonight we’ll keep her in here just so she doesn’t wake up and get scared,” she said gently and Chalres nodded. 

“Let me go get some extra blankets then so you can make a pallet for her,” he said before leaving the room and Adrian physically sagged. She walked over and leaned against him, exhausted from the travel, Adrian placed one hand on her back and the other starting running through Claire’s hair. 

“You okay?” she asked gently and Adrian pressed a kiss to her head. 

“Always better with you by my side,” he murmured right before his dad came back with a huge stack of blankets. Adrian was quick to grab them and start making a little bed for Claire. 

“She’s normally an early riser but we brought snacks for her and stuff to do so the whole house doesn’t have to wake up on her schedule,” she said, giving Charles a small smile. 

“No worries at all, I figured you guys would want to sleep in a little, but I can make breakfast around nine?” he asked and she nodded. “The bathroom is just across the hall and there’s nightlights to light the way.”

“That sounds great, thank you so much,” she said and he nodded and left the three alone. Adrian immediately got up and locked the door and took Claire from her to tuck her in. She sighed and stretched her arms, the five year old getting too big for her to carry around so much. The last time she made the comment to Adrian he had looked at her, horrified, and told her she would never get too big. 

She started unpacking, throwing Adrian his pajamas as she put hers on and left the room to get ready in the bathroom. She wasn’t sure if Adrian was going to calm down or if this was going to be the entire week, but she had no idea how his nervous system was going to handle an entire week in fight or flight. Especially considering he had no outlet to just go out as Vigilante. 

“Adrian, unlock the door,” she said, knocking gently and he immediately unlocked the door, as he quickly looked behind her and the side clearly looking for his dad. She fought the urge to roll her eyes. “Is this going to be all week?” she asked, pressing a kiss to his cheek before making her way to the bed. Claire’s soft snores filled the room. 

“Maybe,” he said, following her into the bed and immediately wrapping her up in his arms. 

“Well, maybe to help with that tomorrow after breakfast we go to the aquarium?” she said and Adrian kissed the back of her head. “It’s about a two hour drive, but I already told your dad it would probably be one of the first things we’ll want to go to do.”

“Please, Claire is going to go nuts!” He yell whispered directly in her ear. She cringed but let out a small giggle before leaning back against him even more. 

“Yeah, Claire is going to go nuts,” she teased, setting her alarm for the morning, knowing they won’t even need it because Claire will most definitely wake them up. “How are you feeling so far?” 

“Like we’re in a strangers home and I don’t even know all the exit points yet,” he murmured after a beat. 

“Adrian…” she said and he sighed. 

“I know,” he grumbled. “I’m trying.” 

“I know you are and I’m so proud of you,” she said, gripping his arms and he sighed. “Get some rest baby, because Claire is definitely going to be awake in five hours.” 

“Maybe six if we’re lucky,” Adrian said, leaning back to turn off the light in the room and she sighed, letting the exhaustion of the day finally catch up with her. Adrian’s arms stayed firm around her. Which she appreciated considering how cold the house felt. It didn’t take long for sleep to claim her, Adrian not far behind her. 

Unfortunately, they didn’t get lucky and she woke up at five in the morning to Claire peeling her eyelids back. She groaned and turned towards Adrian, he let out a low chuckle as she pressed herself hard in his chest. 

“Good morning, Claire Bear,” he murmured, hands rubbing her back. “Can you let me and your mom get a little more sleep?” 

“Lost cause,” she said into his chest. 

“But I’m not tired anymore!” Claire said at a volume way too loud for how early it was. She groaned and Adrian pulled himself out of bed. She whined at the loss of his warmth. 

“Can you play quietly for a few minutes while I get dressed and we’ll go take a walk?” he asked and Claire must’ve agreed because she felt the girl retreat to her pallet, snagging her backpack on the way. Adrian pressed a firm kiss to her forehead. “Before you doze off, can you text me the address?” 

“Just look outside,” she murmured. “Or use my location, I’m not going anywhere.” He let out a small chuckle as she threw the blanket over herself to try to block out Claire and Adrian’s version of being quiet. Not a single quiet bone in either of their bodies. 

She’s not sure how long she was asleep before she made her way down the creaky stairs, but after checking Adrian’s location and seeing that he and Claire still seemed to be on their walk she got ready and made her way downstairs towards the sounds and the smells of the kitchen.

She’s immediately greeted by what one would say is way too much food for four people. There were homemade waffles with all the fixings, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, some fresh fruit, chocolate milk, and what appeared to be fresh squeezed orange juice. 

Charles really had a spread going, one that she couldn’t wait to dig into. 

“Oh wow,” she said and Charles' eyes flew to hers as he gave an awkward chuckle.

“Sorry, I didn’t know what you guys would like and we can go to breakfast if-”

“No, no! This is perfect, Adrian’s favorite breakfast is waffles with peanut butter so he’ll be excited,” she said quickly smiling at the older man as the front door swung open. 

“Mommy!” screamed Claire as she came barely into the room and straight into her legs. She winced but smiled as she ran a hand through the young girl's hair. “We found three ant hills!” 

“Hey baby,” Adrian said softly, kissing her cheek before taking in the spread for himself. 

“Three! That’s so many, I bet you worked up an appetite! Look what Grandpa made us for this morning!” 

“Oh, is that who you are?” Claire asked, head tilting as she looked at Charles. Internally she cringed, in all her worry for Adrian she forgot to prep Claire on the trip past that they were visiting Adrian’s dad in San Francisco. 

“I…um yes,” he said, cringing slightly. “I’m your grandpa.” 

“Nice to meet you,” Claire said after a pause, moving so she was closer to Charles, holding out her little hand for him to shake. He laughed but took her hand and gave it a hardy shake which made Claire giggle. 

“It’s very nice to meet you too, Claire.” Adrian looked over at her, his lips pulling slightly up more. After a beat, he cleared his throat. “Well, let’s not let this food get cold!” 

“God, you don’t have to tell me twice, this smells amazing!” She said, sitting down as Adrian helped Claire into one the seat next to her, the small round table leaving Adrian with no choice but to sit next to his dad. She stood up with a plate and began adding food to Claire’s plate before Adrian waved her off, brows furrowed as he grabbed the plate from her.  

“I’ll serve her, you get your food,” he murmured immediately and she smiled at him, putting her hands on her hips as she watched him from behind dipping Claire’s plate. 

“I even got chocolate milk, Adrian! You used to drink so much growing up,” Charles said with a smile as he handed Adrian the glass jug of milk. 

“I don’t drink chocolate milk, I'm not a child,” Adrian grumbled as he accepted the jug to pour Claire a glass. “I’ll have orange juice like an adult.” 

“Adrian, you regularly drink Sunny D, so hush,” She teased as she planted a kiss on his cheek before finally deciding Adrian didn’t need her help for Claire’s plate and she grabbed hers and started loading up her own. If he was at all annoyed at her selling him out his expression doesn’t show it, instead he looks at her like he always does when she kisses him; like she’s hung the stars and the moon in the sky. 

“We can pick up some Sunny D at the store if you’d like,” Charles said immediately. 

“Orange juice is fine,” Adrian grumbled. 

“I like chocolate milk way more than Sunny D,” Claire chimed in and she laughed. 

“Yeah but that’s because you don’t have a refined palate like your dad!” Adrian teased, blowing a raspberry at her as he sat her plate in front of her, immediately digging in. 

“So, Adrian. What are you doing for work these days?” 

“I have a business with some friends,” Adrian said as he focused on dipping his own plate. 

“A business?” He said, blinking as he sat his own fork down, clearly not expecting that answer. She watched Adrian closely as she kept eating, his eyes were fixed on his plate as he slowly started to dig in. To be fair, the last update he must’ve gotten from Adrian’s mom was that he was a busboy. Both her and Adrian had tried to explain Checkmate to his mom a thousand times but she still thought it was just another restaurant. 

“Yeah,” Adrian said. 

“Doing what?” 

“Working.”

“It’s a covert operations agency,” she chimed in, knowing Adrian was going to keep dodging it. “They’ve been at it for about six years now, very successful.” 

“Daddy goes on missions once a month!” Claire chimed in happily. “But we still talk, don’t worry.” She couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of Claire making sure that Charles knew their routine. 

“Missions? So you’re like a spy?” 

“An agent,” he said tensely. “Where’s your husband? I thought you got remarried or did that go south too," Adrian said, turning the subject against his dad and she can tell immediately in his tone that he’s doing this on purpose. She kicked him under the table but he didn’t react at all to her. 

“Oh,” he said, clearing his throat. “We thought it was best if William wasn’t here while you guys visited. We didn’t want to overwhelm you guys so he’s actually visiting his family in North Carolina right now.” She watched the way Adrian flinched at the words and she knew immediately what he was thinking. He was being treated like a fragile child like he couldn’t handle anything, but by how he was reacting at simple questions it’s exactly how he was being. 

“That’s very considerate of you,” she said. “Maybe next time we can meet him.” Adrian’s eyes lock on hers, his brows furrowed and for a second he looks legitimately angry at her before he looked almost ashamed that he’d even start to look mad at her. 

“He’d love to meet you guys!” Charles said, clearly just happy that things seemed somewhat positive at least from her. “So, I know we talked on the phone about the plans for the trip, but were you guys still thinking about the aquarium for today?” Charles asked. 

“Yes!” Claire immediately said and both her and Adrian laughed. 

“Maybe let’s plan for tomorrow, spend today watching a movie and just hanging out. We could go tomorrow if the two hour drive isn’t too much to ask,” she said.

“Not at all, it’s been a while since I’ve been myself. I was more concerned that you guys might be too tired. Are you sure you guys will feel rested enough to go tomorrow? We can always push it off! The only thing with a real date is the fireworks in a few days.”

“These two? Too tired? I would love to see the day,” she teased and Adrian cracked a smile as he and Claire made eye contact with the same knowing grin on their faces. 

The rest of the breakfast mainly her and Charles chatting with Claire chiming in through mouthfuls of food occasionally. She offered to help wash the dishes when everyone was done but Charles waved them off telling them to go get ready for the day. Adrian was quick to leave the table, picking Claire up, and taking her with him. She followed quickly behind and the moment Claire had wiggled free to look around the room they had stayed in she cornered Adrian.

“Hey, listen to me,” she said putting a hand on his shoulder and he looked at her. “You can’t be a dick.” 

“Me? A dick?” He looked at her like he couldn’t believe what she was saying, green eyes wide in disbelief. 

“Adrian, he’s trying and you don’t have to be overtly nice, but we’re in the man’s home and you’re setting a bad example for Claire.” 

“A bad example? I’m the bad example? He-”

“Adrian, listen to me,” she said, taking his head between her hands forcing him to look at her. “I love you, I love you so much my bones ache and I want nothing more than to be by your side always and I understand that this is hard and it’s probably bringing up a lot of difficult memories from your childhood, but we are actively making memories for Claire. All I ask is if you want to have a more direct conversation with him we have it not in front of Claire, okay?” 

His expression fell at her words and he looked clearly ashamed at his action. 

“Do you think…do you think she’s upset with me?” he asked, in a small voice and she smiled gently at him before pulling him close enough to kiss the tip of his nose. 

“She has no idea what was happening at breakfast other than the fact that you seemed upset,” she said gently. “But that doesn’t mean if the behavior continues she won’t pick up on it.” 

Adrian sighed as she rubbed the apples of his cheeks. 

“It’s hard,” he murmured. 

“I know,” she said back. “Believe it or not, I think you’re doing good,” she said and a ghost of a smile crossed his face. 

“Really?” 

“Yes, this is hard. There’s no doubt in my mind that this is feeling impossible and daunting for you, but you’re doing so good.” 

“I love you,” he said, pulling her in for a tight hug, one that she was happy to return. Her cheek pressed firmly to his shoulder while her eyes went to Claire, who was watching them closely. She gave the small girl a wink and she giggled before running over and throwing herself into hugging her parents legs. 

“Can we watch a movie and color today?” Claire asked and she laughed, pulling back from Adrian to crouch down to Claire’s level. “Maybe go bug hunting?”

“That sounds good to me, baby. What do you think daddy?” She asked looking up at Adrian and he smiled with a small nod. 

The rest of the day was calm and quiet, Charles always in the background of activities and asking them questions. Adrian never seemed fully comfortable and relaxed but compared to the morning he had calmed down a lot. 

She was pleased with the fact that Adrian never seemed to get upset the rest of the day and had even given his dad a strained, but small smile. 

It seemed both her and Charles would take the win. 

The following morning, Claire was up early and ready to go to the aquarium, waking them up by squeezing herself into the bed between her and Adrian. Where she kept loudly sighing over and over again until they admitted defeat and got up. 

“Can we go now?” Claire asked, the moment their eyes opened, making both her and Adrian laugh. One track mind with that girl the moment animals were involved. Claire managed to keep them on schedule yelling “chop chop!” whenever they slowed down too much getting ready. 

When loading back up the car, Adrian had given her hand a squeeze as he sat in the back of the car with Claire. She took the front seat again with his dad, but at least this time the energy didn’t feel as tense in the car. 

“Do you think they have sea otters?” Claire asked Adrian and she smiled from the front seat as Charles kept driving. She knew this was about to be the next hour of the drive. 

“They sure do,” Adrian said and she could hear the smile in his voice. 

“Okay what about jellyfish?” she asked him. 

“Yes ma’am!” 

“Black rays?” 

“Pretty sure they do!" 

“Isopees?”

“Isopods, and yes!” 

“What about puffins?” 

“They have tufted puffins!” 

“The parrots of the sea!” Claire said proudly and Adrain laughed, clapping his hands making her smile from the front seat.

“Good job, baby!” 

“What are you the most excited to see, daddy?” she asked gently. 

“I’m the most excited for the life on the bay exhibit, you get to see the animals in their natural environment like-”

“Like harbor seals!” Claire said with a loud laugh. 

“Yes! What are you the most excited for?” He asked her. 

“Hmmm, probably the octopus!” she announced. 

“Do you remember how many suckers they have on each leg when they’re born?” Adrian asked, Claire took a moment to ponder. 

“14?” 

“Good job!” 

“Wow, you guys sure know your sea creatures!” Charles said with a chuckle. 

“It’s like this all day,” she teased. “Sometimes they quiz each other. I can’t even begin to describe the amount of animal books and those ‘who would win’ books we have.” 

“Hey! Those books are good,” Adrian complained and she laughed. 

“Yes, the first time you read them.” 

“Have you read them, grandpa?” Claire asked and she watched Charles tense slightly. 

“Oh, I umm I haven’t,” he said gently, glancing at the review mirror. 

“Hmm, that’s okay. Daddy did you pack any?” 

“I did, I brought hammerhead shark versus bull shark and whale versus giant squid,” he listed. 

“Okay, see we can read some together!” Claire suggested and she watched Charles grin. 

“I’d like that!” 

The rest of the ride to the aquarium was filled with soft music and Claire and Adrian babbling back and forth about all the different animals they were expecting to see. She smiled as she leaned her head back, eyes closed, just listening to them talk gently with each other. Being around Charles had started to make her wonder if young Adrian was like this too; just never ending facts and wanting to talk to people all day long. She wondered if anyone actually talked to him or at the very least listened to him. 

Based on Adrian’s very few stories, she figured the odds were low. 

Once they finally got to the aquarium, they were all quick to get out of the car to stretch. Both Claire and Adrian were quick to get out and take in the outside of the building. 

“Hey,” she said, pulling Adrian close into her as he kissed her cheek. “Remember the rule, gift shop at the end and be strong. One educational and one fun thing.” 

“We’re on vacation, maybe two fun things?” Adrian tried and she smiled as he winked at her. “Plus must fun toys have some educational bearing!” 

“This is one of many stops and gifts ships, trust that her backpack will be full by the end,” she said, giving him a light pat on the cheek as he leaned in to kiss her, accepting the small peck as an agreement to the rules. 

Claire and Adrian ended up leading the four through the aquarium, both of them chattering through every exhibit. Sharing fun facts back and forth and Adrian picking her up to get a better look at various things. 

It’s honestly the most relaxed she’s seen Adrian ever since the letter arrived from his dad and she knew it was mainly because he was able to focus on Claire, but she’d take it. She couldn’t help a laugh bubble up the moment Claire and Adrian found a tunnel to crawl through that puts you right underneath a waterfall. She couldn’t help but snap a picture of the two of them, identically large grins looking like they are in animal nerd heaven. 

“Do you guys have any pets at home?” Charles asked as the two watched Adrian and Claire count the amount of starfish in one tank. 

“God no. Even though Adrian’s schedule has gotten better I will not be the one who ends up taking care of a five year old and whatever pet those two wind up bringing home,” she said with a laugh and Charles nodded. 

“Growing up Adrian always brought home every stray animal he could find. Even animals that aren’t stray, one time he tried to bring home a chipmunk.” 

“Oh my god, yeah I could see that,” she said, covering her mouth as she laughed, watching the two of them. “Did…was he happy as a kid?” she asked softly, almost shyly like she didn’t want to know the true answer. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him flinch. 

“It’s not that answer you’re looking for, but I don’t know,” he murmured and she closed her eyes and sighed. 

“He’s a good man,” she said, her body feeling tense as she watched Adrian beam at Claire as she must’ve said a correct fact about some animal as he gave her a high five. “A really good dad and an amazing husband.” 

“I can see,” he said, voice sounding small. Her brain is still circling around the idea of young Adrian all on his own navigating everything, clearly needing help and just not wanting to be on his own but having no choice. No one to turn to. She always understood when she first met Adrian that something was going on in his life, there was a misconnection or some kind of fundamental lack in his life. The way he clung to Chris when they first met like he was the only person who could really know Adrian. It hadn’t taken her long to break through his shell once he realized she wasn’t kicking him around or had any plans to be mean to him. Adrian still looked at her like he did in those early days, just with pure love and joy wanting nothing more to make her happy even if it came at his own expense. 

It took time and work to get him to start doing stuff for himself. It took even more unpacking to realize that he was scared if he didn’t do what she wanted she would leave. 

And he was willing to sacrifice everything that made him happy for her to stay. 

“He did it on his own and he deserved better,” she said before wiping away a few tears before standing up to join Adrian and Claire. Adrian tilted his head as he looked at her, an unspoken question on his face as she shook her head but pulled him in for a quick kiss. “Lunch?” she asked gently. 

“Yeah, let’s get lunch,” Adrian said in a low voice, eyes still on her with worry. “You okay?” 

“I’m okay, baby. I think I'm just hungry,” she said. 

“Then let’s get you some food!” Adrian said happy to solve any problem she brought to him. She couldn’t help the extra twinge in her heart from his eagerness to make sure she was happy. 

The rest of the visit Charles kept his distance, respecting that she had gotten upset with him, and even though she knew she should talk to him and include him she had a hard time separating her attention from Claire and Adrian. In all her worry about Adrian and how he was handling things she neglected her own feelings. Adrian was her person, her guy, her soulmate. Of course it was going to hurt for her too. 

Adrian definitely picked up on her weird mood shift and the rest of the trip holding her hand and frequently checking on her. And each time she gave him a small smile and gentle reassurances that yes she was okay. However she was happy once they finally reached the last exhibit of the day and made their way slowly but surely to the gift shop. 

The gift shop came with an added challenge. 

As expected from an amazing aquarium the gift shop was loaded, leaving Claire running from aisle to aisle with all three grown ups trying to play catch up and help her decide. 

“Claire, how about a stuffed animal and a book?” she tried. 

“But did you see the pencil case?” Claire immediately said back, eyes wide at all the options. She spared a glance at Adrian. 

“Claire, honey we got five minutes and then we gotta pick and if you can’t pick daddy will pick for you, okay?” Adrian said, his tone barely stern but for Adrian to Claire, she’d take it. Claire pouted but picked up a sea otter plushie (one she felt she could’ve picked out the moment they walked in and saved them twenty minutes) and the pencil case that was covered in different marine animals. 

The moment they strapped Claire into her seat she passed out in the car, causing both Adrian and her to share sleepy smiles as they looked at each other. Sharing an almost knowing smile as she kissed his cheek. 

“Do you want the front seat this time?” She murmured and she watched him as thought about it before nodding. He opened her door and helped her into the backseat with Claire as Adrian took the front with his dad. 

The day had finally caught up with her and it didn’t take much for her to fall asleep, the gentle hum of the car and foggy view encouraging her to close her eyes. She was somewhat aware of the fact that Adrian was speaking to his dad in a low voice. 

She woke up at least three hours later in the bed at Adrian’s dad’s house. Claire passed out beside her tucked in on the side Adrian had been sleeping in. She stretched and checked the time. Claire would probably wake up hungry soon, but in the meantime she gently made her way downstairs, finding Adrian sitting on the floor alone on his switch. She smiled as she slid down the wall next to him, placing her head on his shoulder as she watched him play his game. He spared a single second of attention to place a kiss on her forehead. 

“Did you carry me upstairs?” she murmured. 

“Duh,” he said softly. “My dad’s ancient, you think he carried you?” 

“Alright, meanie,” she huffed out. “How was the drive back?” 

“Fine,” he said and she sighed. 

“Are you going to make me pry everything out of you?” Adrian sighed and paused his games. He leaned his head back and it thumped against the wall. 

“It was fine, we just did small talk and then listened to music.”

“What kind of small talk?” 

“Like how we met, me proposing, stuff about Claire, our relationship with my mom, if we want more kids,” he listed off and she slapped his arm playfully. 

“That’s not small talk!” 

“I don’t know. He just asked questions and I answered them!” he said and she pulled back, hand on his shoulder as she moved to look at him. A smile on her lips. 

“I’m proud of you,” she said and Adrian rolled his eyes but there was a small smile playing on his lips. 

“Well I can talk about you and Claire all day, that’s fine; it’s my favorite subject.” 

“Trust me I know, I’ve seen the photo albums on your phone. Albums plural,” she insisted and he let out a sharp laugh, one that was infectious. 

“I love you two, you’re my world.”

“You’re mine too,” she said, leaning to place a gentle kiss on his lips. One that Adrian eagerly accepted and pulled her closer to him. “What did you say to if we wanted more kids?” 

“That I’m working on getting you to say yes,” giving her a small peck as she laughed. 

“Absolutely ridiculous,” she teased, rolling her eyes. 

A gentle throat clear, took both of her and Adrian’s eyes off of each other and to his dad who was smiling down at them. He was leaning against the wall, looking at them like he had caught a couple of teenagers, but both of them were too old and too in love to even care about being caught.

“If you two wanted, I could watch Claire tomorrow night so you guys could have a date night or even tonight if you’d like,” Charles offered the two and she immediately smiled, accidentally ignoring Adrian’s tension. 

“No, that’s okay,” Adrian said immediately and she snapped to look at him, brow furrowed as he pretended to be more interested in the carpet. 

“Adrian, we haven’t gone on a real date in years. Your dad can handle Claire for an evening,” she said. 

“We can go on a date whenever we want, John could watch her!” 

“John Economos? You think John is equipped to watch Claire? John can barely watch Eagley!” 

“Okay, then Chris!” 

“Sorry, are you purposefully picking the worst people to watch our daughter?” She joked and Adrian tensed. 

“My friends are not the worst people to watch our daughter,” he said, sounding frustrated. She sighed.

“Adrian, I didn’t mean it like that, but come on. They feed an eagle lunch meat, I don’t necessarily expect them to be able to take care of Claire with no issues,” Adrian’s eyes snapped to her face. “We’ll talk about it, maybe tomorrow for an early dinner so that way we can put her to bed.” 

She said and Charles smiled, clearly happy with the possibility of them saying yes. 

“I hate when we do early dinner, then we have to get a sweet treat,” Adrian whined. 

“Yeah, but we can get dinner and then come back and take Claire to dessert. Win win!” She said and she watched Adrian roll his head in a circle, grimacing as he thought about it. 

“Okay,” he said and his eyes snapped to his dads. “We’ll only be gone for a little while, like three hours tops.” 

“Four,” she said, kicking him slightly. Eyes wide and bottom lip pouted out. “We can get dinner and take a nice walk.” 

“Four hours,” Adrian conceded and she smiled at him. “But let’s take Claire to the park first tomorrow, I don’t want her to get all bummed we’re hanging out without her.” 

“It’s not hanging out without her Ade, but alright we can do that.” She said and she looked up at Charles. “Want to come with us to the park tomorrow?” 

“That sounds great,” he said. “I guess I’ll leave you to it.” 

She giggled as Charles awkwardly left the room, only for Adrian to immediately tackle her, still careful that she didn’t hit the carpet too hard. He was quick to land his lips on hers, holding his body above hers. She chuckled slightly as they continued making out, Adrian smiling against her lips. 

“You’re not getting lucky on a living room floor,” she teased and Adrian laughed, the sound music to her ears and caused her own lips to twitch even further up. 

“I don’t need to get lucky, I already am,” he murmured as he kissed her underneath her chin and she laughed. He lifted himself further up so he could look at her, green eyes wide behind his glasses that were starting to slip off his nose. Adrian had used that line on her at least a hundred times, but every time there was a force to his tone that told her that he truly fully believed that. That he was the lucky one and not her. 

“Do you remember our first dinner at your moms house?” she murmured, pushing his curls behind his ear only for them to spring right back to where they were before. He chuckled as he rolled his eyes. 

“Yeah, when she spoiled that I was going to propose to you in the first ten minutes of meeting her,” he said and she laughed. 

“I already knew, you weren’t exactly subtle.” 

“That wasn’t the point,” Adrian whined and she laughed, leaning up to give him a peck on the lips. 

“You just hate that she technically beat you to it, but Ade I wouldn’t change a single aspect of our life together. None of it,” she said gently and he smiled. 

“I wouldn’t either, every moment led me to you and I still can’t believe I have you,” he said, pausing for a moment. “Come on, let’s get some food and take it upstairs for Claire.” 

She nodded as Adrian slowly got up, holding out both his hands to help her up. Once she was up she paused before wrapping her arms around her husband. He was quick to sweep her up. 

The rest of the evening passed in quiet, small noises throughout the house but everyone was so dead from the aquarium. Claire barely ate anything for dinner, but she was glad she ate something and was willing to take a bath, before passing out for the rest of the evening. 

“The park and then dinner tomorrow?” she said softly as she laid down in the bed. Adrian was still puttering around the room, picking different things up just to sit them back down. 

“Yeah, sounds good to me,” he murmured before finally making his way to the bed. “Do you think Claire’s having a good time?” 

“Yeah, baby. I do.” 

Adrian left it at that, not poking anymore as he sighed, pulling her closer into him. She couldn’t force herself to stay awake any longer, despite her nap earlier in the day she was still exhausted and wanted to take advantage of the quiet as much as she could, knowing that Claire was still going to wake up super early and ready to go. So she gave in, letting Adrian’s soft breath in her ear lull her to sleep. 

The following day Charles had made breakfast again and she had helped him pack a small picnic for them all for the park. It had been his idea, figuring keeping Claire outside and running around will make things easier for her and Adrian to sneak out for their date night. 

“You guys are really cute together,” he said while she was packing a few different types of chips for everyone and making sure Charles had the kind of mustard Adrian liked for his sandwich. 

“Me and Ade?” she asked, brows furrowing as she turned towards the man. He was smiling at her, hands pausing over the desserts he was packing, some sweets from a local bakery he had raved about the day before. 

“Yeah, I mean. You don’t see too many married couples still so in love like you guys are. Makes me happy that he found you,” he said and she felt her lips twitch as she leaned against the counter.

“Yeah, we're both lucky to have each other,” she murmured, looking down as she smiled. “What’s it like meeting us?” she asked, head tilting. 

“It’s…nice. Gut’s come to visit a few times, but it’s normally when he’s just down on his luck. I can’t even put into words how nice it is to see Adrian and not only knowing he’s doing well, but also to see it with my own eyes.” 

“I can’t imagine what it’s all been like,” she said gently and he shrugged.

“I made a lot of bad choices and a lot of good choices. It’s led me here and I wish I could change some things but I can’t. I have to live with my choices.” 

“Well, even if Adrian won’t say it I am glad you reached out. He never would’ve done that on his own,” she said and Charles nodded.

“I’m glad you answered,” he said and silence fell between the two of them as they returned to packing up for the picnic. After a few minutes Adrian and Claire came barrelling into the kitchen, Claire giggling as Adrian chased her. 

“Ready?” He asked, pecking her forehead. 

“I am,” she said, patting the cooler and Adrian smiled as he grabbed it. “Hey, I can get it.”

“Nah, I got it. Dad, are you ready?” he asked. 

“Of course! What about you Claire?”

“For the park?” she asked, looking up. 

“Yes, baby,” she said and Claire smiled. 

“I was born ready!” she declared and they all laughed. Adrian picked Claire up and set her on his shoulders while she giggled. Little hands pulling sharply at his hair, but as always Adrian didn’t complain.  

The four of them walked slowly towards the park, Claire not lasting long on Adrian’s shoulders before she wanted to walk on her own. Claire bouncing back and forth between whose hand she was holding. She yapped the whole way, asking questions about the park, and how it’ll compare to the one back in Evergreen that they frequent. She felt lucky it wasn’t a long walk, since she was unsure how to keep answering Claire’s questions that she didn’t have the answer to. 

Once they got to the park, Adrian reminded Claire of the rules of staying where the adults could see her and being kind to the other kids. The moment Adrian said the last rule Claire gave them all a salute before she bounded off laughing towards the playground. She stood between the two men as she watched Claire run around the park, smiling as she clearly had no trouble making new friends. She turned to Adrian who had his eyes on the parking lot, watching everyone who walked up. She smiled as she noticed Charles doing the same thing but with everyone sitting on the bench. 

She elbowed Adrian gently and his eyes snapped towards her as she tilted her head towards his dad who was doing the same thing he was doing. The expression on his face was hard to read, it wasn’t as guarded as he had been the whole week, but there was still something unsure in it. 

“What are you doing?” Adrian asked him, leaning forward as his dad's eyes snapped to him. The older man chuckled. 

“Oh, old habits die hard, I guess,” he said, gesturing to all the people at the park. “Your mom would give me a hard time whenever we took you boys to the park because I’d watch the people more than I’d watch you guys, but you can never be too careful.” 

She watched Adrian’s face carefully, there’s something there that she can’t help but smile at. 

“Sounds like someone I know,” she said, knocking into her husband since he didn’t seem like he was going to say anything to his dad. 

“I’m going to go play with Claire,” he muttered as he walked away from the two, she frowned but didn’t say anything as he walked off. 

“Here let’s go sit, he’s got this,” she said, gesturing towards an open bench that still gave them a decent enough line of sight to everything happening around the playground. 

“He’s…really good at this,” Charles said, gesturing towards Adrian and Claire as they played, the two focused intently on skipping from raised lilly pad to lilly pad as they made their way towards the top of the jungle gym. She couldn’t fight the smile that came across her features. 

“At balancing?” She asked, brows furrowed as she turned to the older man who let out a chuckle. 

“No, I mean, at being a dad,” he said softly and she hummed, her eyes locked on the back of Adrian’s head no more than twenty feet away from them. 

“Can I tell you a secret?” She said low enough Adrian wouldn’t overhear them as his dad nodded. “He took to it so well that I thought something was wrong with me. Like don’t get me wrong, I love my daughter with my entire heart. I would do anything to make sure she’s safe, but every moment still felt…suffocating. Especially right after we had her, I mean there’s so much you can just fuck up, but not to Adrian. He just looks at her and knows what she needs. He’s known since she was born. He’s known what she needs just from the smallest babble, a quiver of the lips, just anything. He’s freakishly in tune with her.” 

“It’s impressive…I mean I wasn’t…you have to understand there was a lot going on in general. Especially internally and me and Adrian just had nothing in common,” she nodded. 

“Adrian just doesn’t know how to half ass anything in his personal life,” she said with a shrug. “He still struggles some days. He gets frustrated when things don’t make sense in his mind, but he’s gotten better at trying and growing. It’s all you can ask for most days,” she said gently and his dad nodded. 

“I’m proud of him,” he said. “But I’m not sure if he wants to hear that from me.”

“Tell him anyway, I’ll talk to him about it.” 

“Daddy, do you need a hug or some deep breaths?” She heard Claire’s voice from across the playground and she immediately locked in on the two. Adrian was standing near the middle of the jungle gym, his eyes were locked on them, but the expression on his face made it so she wasn’t fully sure he was actually seeing them. Claire’s hand tugging at his shirt, begging for his attention, she starts to get up to check in on them, but her movement seemed to snap him out of zone out as he turned back to Claire. He moved to start chasing her as the young girl screamed and continued climbing up the jungle gym. 

“Is he okay?” Charles asked and she looked over at him. 

“Yeah, he’s okay.”

The rest of the time passed in a comfortable silence with her and Charles watching Adrian and Claire play. Occasionally letting out a chuckle as the two did something funny or a small comment when a thought popped up in either of their heads, but for the most part it was just a calm afternoon and once Claire was hungry the four of them found a shaded spot to sit and eat. Adrian sat close enough to her that she leaned on him and then once they were done eating she laid in his lap while Charles pushed Claire on the swings. His hands were playing with her hair. 

“What were you guys talking about earlier?” he asked, voice low. 

“You,” she answered honestly, adjusting so she was on her back and looking up at Adrian. She watched him purse his lips, his eyes staying locked on Claire. “I was talking about how great of a dad you are, how you took to Claire quicker than I did.” 

“Baby, postpartum depression is really serious. We’ve talked about it, you don’t have to feel bad, it’s okay. We got you the help you needed and everything was okay.” 

“No,” she said laughing slightly despite herself. “I just mean like when we first came home from the hospital you were immediately in tune with her. Waking up slightly before she needed anything and you were just…so happy to help, never seeming too tired. Even now, you’re quick to know what she wants or you know exactly what to say to get her to stop pouting before dinner.” 

“Oh,” he said gently. 

“Yeah, you’re a good dad, baby.” 

“I love you,” he said gently, finally looking down at her with nothing but love in his eyes and she smiled. 

“I love you more,” she said and he laughed, shaking his head. 

“Absolutely impossible, my heart-”

“My heart beats for you too, you know,” she whispered. Throwing the words Adrian frequently said to her back at him. 

The rest of the time at the park passed without any big incident, Adrian stayed calm and enjoyed just sitting with her watching Claire. After another hour the four of them packed up and headed back to the house where her and Adrian got ready for their date. 

She opted for a simple summer dress she had packed and Adrian was in khakis and one of his better fitting polos. Charles had offered them to borrow his car, but Adrian insisted on leaving it in case they needed it to go to the hospital. Adrian also ran through every emergency number for his dad to call if something happened. His phone, her phone, and their friends back home. When she pointed out she wasn’t sure what they could do being so far, Adrian just gave her a pained look that made her nod and let him keep going. 

Once she actually got Adrian to leave the house, the dinner was really nice. They had walked hand and hand for about 25 minutes before arriving at one of the few restaurants open early enough for them to have dinner. She smiled as they made easy conversation and finally got seated, Adrian pulled out her chair for her. 

“Ugh, I’m so excited,” she said as she looked over the menu, everything looking so good. 

“We’ve been to dinner since we’ve had Claire. Multiple times, you’re acting like I never take you out,” Adrian said, complaining, but there was still a smile playing on his lips. 

“Yeah, but we’re on vacation! We’re in a new city and it’s just us. It’s nice,” she said and he nodded, looking at her with a smile on his lips as he leaned forward just a tad. 

“It is nice,” he repeated. They both placed their orders and she watched Adrian fidget slightly with his glass of water. 

“Ade, can I guess a question you’re going to hate?” she asked and he nodded, eyes flickering away from hers. “What was it like when he left?” her voice was soft but it didn’t stop the look of being struck that crossed his face. 

“Why?” 

“I just…I know this week’s been hard for you and I know how reluctant you were for us to even come in the first place. I just…want the missing puzzle piece,” she finished, voice soft as she grabbed his hand from across the table, he immediately intertwined their fingers together and gripped her tightly. 

“When my dad left, things just…got worse overall. It’s not like he nor my mom really stopped Gut growing up. With my healing factor…I was just the boy who cried wolf so it didn’t really change too much when he left, but it clearly affected Gut because he just got…worse, meaner. He pushed limits and just seemed to make it his life mission to make my life hell,” Adrian said before taking a sip of water. “And I hated them all so much growing up. I always thought ‘why me,’ like what did I do that made me so…hateable so hurtable. It just became easier to shut myself off from all of them, pretending their relationship to me didn’t matter because no matter what it was going to hurt, but at least this way I got to pick how it hurt.” 

“Oh, Ade.” 

“And I don’t regret it. Without Gut torturing me, I might not have become Vigilante and if I hadn't become Vigilante I wouldn’t have met Chris or you and who knows what my life would be. Probably awful, still bussing tables and living in my moms basement with no plans or a life. I think for a long time I was angry at him for leaving me in that house like he just didn’t care. And I get it, I get he’s sorry and I get why he wanted to meet you and Claire, but I think there’s still this part of me that sees that’s what he wants and wants to deny it because it’s mine. It’s something I built and found and have loved and cherished. Not him, he shouldn’t get it just because I’m his son.” 

“That’s not what’s happening. It’s not just getting this because you’re his son. You built this and you are making a very mature decision to share this. You’re being the bigger person in allowing him to see this and to show him what you built despite everything that happened growing up.”

“Yeah, well I hate it,” he mumbled, leaning back in his chair, eyes on the ceiling and she laughed. 

“I couldn’t tell,” she teased.

“Hey!” 

“Ade, it’s fine! You’re allowed to not like this too! You can be angry or as upset as you want with him. They’re your feelings. I’m not trying to make you feel one way or the other.” 

“I know, I just…I’m ready to be home. I miss our bed, I miss work.” 

“Do you think you’ll want to come visit again?” She asked, head tilting as he seemed to ponder it. 

“Not fully for it, but not fully against it.” 

“Once your mom hears we came out she’s going to beg us to come over again you know that right?” 

“Jesus fuck, don’t remind me. It’s going to be impossible, the moment we land we’ll be lucky if she’s not outside our door already with cookies,” he complained and she laughed. 

“Well, it’s not like Gut is going to be bringing around any grandbabies anytime soon,” she said as the waiter sat down their appetizer. Adrian grabbed his fork and snickered. 

“At least not a legitimate one,” he joked and she snorted. 

“Hey, you can’t judgemental like that. We had a close call before we got married,” she warned and Adrian smiled. 

“Yeah, but that’s different, we always knew we’d get married. Gut’s going to be lucky if a girl gives him the time of day for longer than to just put his dick in her.”

“I’ll give you that one,” she said after a pause and Adrian smiled at her, digging in. “Our next trip as a family, maybe we see if Chris and the others want to go somewhere,” she suggested casually as Adrian smiled. 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I bet they’d be down for a resort somewhere and Claire would have a blast with all her aunts and uncles.” 

“Oh my god, we can take a cruise!” Adrian said, slapping the table and she grimaced and shook her head. 

“Tempting since Claire would be confined to a ship, but I fear if we took Chris onto international waters we might just be asking for trouble,” she said and Adrian pouted. “We’ll figure something out. Let’s survive these last few days and then we’ll start making plans." 

“Barely a few days, tomorrow night fireworks and then we leave in the afternoon the following day,” Adrian said looking excited.

“Still, let’s wait to plan our next trip till we get back,” she said and Adrian smiled and nodded. The rest of the evening passed with just the two of them talking back and forth, the conversation staying much lighter after Adrian’s confession. She knew, just from knowing her husband, that just because he’s admitting to some of what was bothering him about the trip didn’t mean it was all solved. Adrian had a habit of holding onto things, she was just glad that he had voiced something, clearly up a fraction of what he must be feeling every time they walked back into his dad’s house. 

Throughout dinner she debated circling back and telling Adrian about the conversation she had with him at the aquarium, how upset she got on his behalf, but by the time dessert comes out she decided it was best to just leave it, knowing Adrian would eventually ask her once they were home. 

When they got back to the house, they walked into complete silence and she felt the way Adrian squeezed her hand nervously. She continued to lead them into the house, only to find Claire passed out on the couch and his dad sitting in an armchair continuing to watch Bluey as if Claire was still paying attention. 

“She fell asleep maybe twenty minutes ago. I didn’t know if you wanted me to keep her awake to take her for dessert or what,” he said gently and she smiled. 

“We had dessert at the restaurant, we’ll just put her to bed and get her something special tomorrow so she’ll forgive us,” she said and Adrian smiled as he picked her up. The young girl’s head rolling on his shoulder as her eye lashes fluttered slightly. He walked past her and gave her a kiss on the cheek before carrying Claire to the room. 

“Did you guys have a nice date?” Charles asked, getting up and stretching from his chair. 

“It was really nice, thank you for watching her.” 

“Of course, it’ll be weird to go back to a quiet house. Don’t get me wrong, me and William love the quiet but it’s been really nice having you guys here,” he said softly and she smiled. 

“Your home is beautiful but I fear if Claire is here any longer she will destroy it. You should see her room back home, we’re going to have to repaint it and recarpet it whenever we decide to move,” she said as Adrian came back downstairs. His arms wrapped around her middle as he laid his head on her shoulder. 

“Well, that’s easy we’re not moving,”

“Okay, Ade. We’re not doing this conversation again,” she said, patting his arms and rolling her eyes. “This is a common fight-”

“Debate,” Adrian corrected gently. 

“That I think we should move and Adrian thinks we should just remodel the house, but we need a bigger space as Claire grows and-”

“Which we can get by remodeling, we have an acre in our backyard and we can expand,” Adrian complained. She looked over at Charles and shrugged. He sat back down and put a hand on his chin. 

“Why don’t you want to remodel?” he asked her, she pulled out of Adrian’s grip as she moved to sit on the couch. Adrian followed her. 

“Well, it’s a lot of work and money-”

“Which we have plenty of,” Adrian reminded her. “Checkmate is doing great, we can spend a little to make the house more comfortable without risking too much. It’s not like Claire’s going to college tomorrow, there's time to make these changes while still being comfortable.” 

“And time to be out of the house or in a house with a bunch of construction,” she finished and Charles turned to Adrian. 

“Why don’t you want to move?” 

“It’s our house, I want us to live there forever. We moved in six months before we had Claire. It’s the only home she’s had, I think we should keep it that way.” 

“Well, Adrian, forever isn’t realistic,” his dad said gently so as to not upset Adrian. She could feel him tense beside her but he didn’t say anything. “But also, moving just because a few things are wrong doesn’t mean you should,” he said to her and she sagged a little, looking over at Adrian. 

“I do like our house,” she said, this time focusing more on Adrian who smiled. “I just worry that construction is going to take too long and be too much.”

“Well, you two don’t have to decide today or hell even tomorrow,” Charles said and Adrian nodded. 

“That’s what I say, we’ve got the time,” Adrian said and she fought the urge to say something about how there were two of them now, knowing that might set Adrian off. “Thanks for talking to us about it, but we should get to bed,” he said standing up and the moment Adrian’s eyes were off his dad she saw tears well slightly in his eyes before he wiped them away so Adrian wouldn’t see. She couldn’t help the smile at the realization that without a fight Adrian at least heard his dad out on one of their arguments, which felt like a much bigger win than if she were to convince him to finally start looking at new houses. 

The three adults said goodnight and slowly made their ways to their respective rooms. She smiled, pulled Adrian in for a kiss the moment their door was closed. 

“We can remodel the house,” she said gently against her lips, feeling him smile. “But not right when we get back, give it a few months and then we’ll start figuring it out, okay?” 

“Okay,” he said gently, smile almost blinding. 

“And if we’re remodeling I want a clawfoot tub!” She said and he laughed, she threw a hand over his mouth so he wouldn’t wake Claire up. 

“Deal,” he murmured against her hand. She smiled and kissed him one more time before the two finally made their way to bed. Relaxing together before sleep claimed them both. 

Most of the morning and afternoon was spent getting ready for the evening. The firework show they had picked was at a different park, one they had to drive to, but they were having a farmers market and food trucks there so at least they didn’t have to worry about dinner. Plus Claire wasn’t too happy when she woke up and realized she was cheated out of a dessert. Consider it was their last full day she was completely surprised by Adrian’s unusual chipperness.

They had gotten their blanket spread out for the firework show, Claire sitting between her and Chalres with Adrian on her other side. 

“Oh wait! Claire, I brought you these!” Charles said happily pulling out of his tote bag some industrial noise blocking headphones, one that reminded her of what one might find at a construction site. She smiled as Claire happily accepted them, her expression being more of ease the moment the sound cushions were over her little ears. It was almost a comical sight with how big they were, but she knew Claire was thankful for them, her attention back on the night sky waiting for the fireworks to start. 

The next part seemed to go in slow motion for her. One second she’s smiling looking at her happy daughter, the next she’s turning her head to make a comment to Adrian about it, but when she turned fully he’s not next to her right anymore. Instead he’s running away. 

“Watch her, Claire stay with grandpa,” she didn't wait for either of them to answer her as she chased off in the direction Adrian went. She was lucky that for the most part he didn’t seem to move very fast, not as fast as she knew he could go. She followed him all the way to the parking lot and she was glad he didn’t have the key because she wouldn’t be surprised if Adrian drove off if he did. 

He had done that once before, back before they first started dating, while Task Force X was still getting their grounding after saving the world from butterflies. She had figured out pretty early on that Adrian liked her, but she was still unsure of him and what she wanted. Chris had gotten into Adrian’s head about her and her expectations and he had become a mess every time they were around each other, clearly unsure if he should be himself or who Chris said he should be to earn her love. He had said one dumb thing after another, spiraling until he finally squeaked out a goodbye and physically ran away from her. 

At least this time she was able to catch up to him. 

“Adrian, you can’t just run off. The last thing we need is Claire getting…” she stopped dead in her tracks when she took him in, hand over his mouth as tears raced down his face. He was crouched on the ground, leaning against his dad’s car. “Ade?” 

“Just give me a minute,” he gasped out, shoeing her away with his hand as she shook her head and fell to her knees in front of him. 

“What’s happening, are you hurt?” she asked, checking him over. Hands flying over him as she tried to make sense of what was happening to him. 

“I’m okay,” he said, pushing her hands gently off of him. 

“What’s going on?” she asked again and she watched Adrian force himself to look up, bottom lip wobbling as he seemed to debate telling her the truth or not. 

“Claire, she just looks just like me,” he said, eyes squeezed shut. “And it’s hard to see him being so…fatherly to her. I mean, fuck baby she looks just like me, she has my personality, your genes didn’t even try!” She couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out as a few tears escaped her eyes at Adrian’s clear pain. 

“Yeah, she’s your spitting image,” she said and he let out a shaky sob. 

“Why wasn’t I good enough for him?” At those words she practically threw herself at her husband, wrapping him in her arms as a harsh cry left his lips. 

“Baby, no no no,” she murmured, pressing a kiss to his temple as his arms circled around her tightly. “That’s not what’s happening. He’s not suddenly being nice because he likes Claire more than you, he’s being nice to Claire because he feels bad about how he treated you as a kid. He’s trying so hard to make you see that he's changed and he cares and he’s doing that by showing you the way he thinks you’ll be the most comfortable with. He knows you don’t want to have a direct conversation, but baby he’s trying to make you see he loves and cares about you and he is sorry.” 

“But why wasn’t I enough?” He begged her, begging for an answer she simply didn’t have and she felt her own tears starting to fall. 

“I don’t know, baby, but it wasn’t fair to you at all and I’m sorry. But you deserve good things and you deserved a good dad who was there for you,” she whispered, holding his face between her hands, wiping his tears as quickly as they were falling. 

“It’s hard,” he murmured, calming down. 

“I know,” she said gently. “And it’s not fair either, but you’re doing such a good job. This time tomorrow we’ll be home and if you don’t want to talk to him ever again we can do that.” 

“But what about Claire she’s having a blast with him!” 

“Ade, we’ll figure it out and yeah she’s five but she’ll understand if that’s what you pick,” she said and he sighed, his body sagging against the car. “Come on, let’s buy Claire some cotton candy, okay?” She said and Adrian laughed, it was watery but at least he was starting to sound back to normal. 

“So she’ll be up all night?” 

“Yeah, we’ll make your dad watch her so we can get some rest before the flight tomorrow,” she joked back as she stood up and held out a hand for Adrian. He was quick to accept it and pull himself up but before she could start leading him back he quickly brought her in for a kiss. She smiled as one of her hands went to cup his cheek. 

“I love you,” she said and he smiled. 

“I love you too.” 

The two made their way towards the cotton candy stalls, Adrian clutching her hand tightly. 

“Stupid California, $12 for a bag of cotton candy,” Adrian mumbled as he pulled out his wallet, wiping his nose on the back of his hand as the stall clerk took his cash and looked at him with concern. She felt lucky that at least the clerk didn’t say anything. 

Once they made it back, Charles gave her a questioning look and she simply shook her head as Adrian handed Claire the cotton candy, making her squeal in joy. 

The rest of the night passes with silence from the group, even Claire, who’s attention is on the sky and slapping her dad’s hand away from stealing her cotton candy. They didn’t get back to the house till almost 1 in the morning, Claire passed out as Adrian carried her around the park and back into bed. Before passing out, she and Adrian made quick work of setting out Claire’s outfit for the flight back and packing up the majority of their stuff. 

“Ready to leave tomorrow?” she asked gently, eyes almost blurry with sleep as she finally pulled herself into the bed. Adrian followed behind her. 

“More than ready,” he murmured as they both fell asleep. 

Both unfortunately and fortunately Claire slept in longer than they were anticipating. Normally the young girl was up early no matter what time she went to bed, but the joy of the fireworks and sugar crash kept her sleeping till almost eleven in the morning. Which meant they were rushing to get to the airport and say their goodbyes. If Charles was disappointed with the lack of a last morning he was careful to not show it on his face which she appreciated, knowing Adrian probably wouldn’t react well to any comment from his dad about them ruining their last day. 

“Thank you for inviting us,” she said, hugging Charles once they made it to the airport. Adrian standing behind her. 

“Of course, don’t be a stranger. You guys are welcome back any time,” he said and she pulled away, looking up at Adrian as he sighed, but awkwardly gave his dad a hug. 

“Yeah, we’ll see,” Adrian mumbled. 

“Seriously, Adrian. I’m really proud of you,” his dad said, giving him one more squeeze of the shoulder and Adrian nodded. 

“Bye Grandpa!” Claire announced, interrupting the moment between the two men, but she can tell on Adrian’s expression that he’s thankful for it. 

“Bye Claire, it was very nice to meet you!” he said and she giggled. 

“Of course it was, I’m cool!” she said hands on her hips making both her parents laugh. 

“Claire, what do you say?” she pressed her daughter.

“It was nice to meet you too,” she grumbled and Charles laughed, giving Claire one last hug before the three of them started making their way through the airport and on their way home to Evergreen. 

The whole flight and ride home Adrian was quiet, this time she gave Claire the window seat so she could watch and play with the window shade as she rested her head on Adrian’s shoulder. Occasionally she could feel him turning and pressing a kiss to the top of her head as she squeezed her leg. The moment they got back into their home, Claire was quick to run to her room to check in on all of her toys. 

“I’m sorry for pushing you into this,” she murmured as she pulled him into a hug, the moment they were alone in their bedroom. She felt him sigh against her as he swayed them slightly. The hug felt familiar and comforting, as she let herself melt in his arms. 

“No, I…I think this was good. I’m glad he got to meet Claire and you got to meet him,” he sighed. “I’m not going to forgive him at least not fully, but I think sometimes I worry that because he was my example of a dad that maybe I would be a shitty father and-”

“Adrian you’re the best dad!” She said immediately pulling back and looking at his face with a pained expression on her face, but Adrian let out a small laugh. 

“No, I mean,” he looked down suddenly looking bashful. “I know I am a good dad and I think it was good for me to see him because now I’m positive I’m way better at this than he ever was. It’s so easy to love Claire and it hurts that…that I wasn’t for him, but that’s his loss.” 

“It is his loss, Ade,” she repeated and he smiled. 

“Yeah, it is,” he murmured. 

“Daddy! Are we going to play with my new art kit from Grandpa! You promised when we got home we’d use them!” Claire said, busting into their room. 

“Besides, I have the best family in the world right in front of me,” he said, pulling her in for a kiss just long enough for Claire to start making fake gagging sounds. 

But god, she wouldn’t change any part of her family for the world. 

__

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Claire and Adrian were the spitting image of each other, so much so that when she had Claire she could’ve sworn she was about to spit out some incorrect animal facts instead of crying. Adrian adored her from the start, she wasn’t sure she would ever see Adrian love anything more than he loved and cared for her, but he took to being a dad like a fish to water. He was obsessed with her, knew what she needed before she could even blink and was always there for her. Despite all his worries and fears, Adrian was an amazing father. 

It was hard on all three of them when Adrian was away on missions, but she would never ask Adrian to sacrifice being Vigilante for them, not when he was always so well aware of how his absence was around that house. 

“No! I know the rules! Plus daddy said if I follow the rules that we could get a lizard!” Claire said, jumping up and down as she opened the mailbox, pulling out the mail and handing it to her mom as she did every day. Once she had the mail in her hands, Claire took off towards the front door and she smiled following behind her. 

“Yeah, we’ll see about the lizard, daddy might’ve said it’s okay but daddy didn’t talk to mommy about that,” she grumbled as she closed the door, Claire already running for the kitchen as she flipped through the mail. 

“Uncle Chris has an eagle though!” She complained.

“What does Uncle Chris having an eagle have anything to do with you getting a lizard?” She asked, sighing at the familiar beat of Adrian’s arguments, never really seeing the connections between two clear points. 

“Well, daddy says I’m cooler than Uncle Chris so I need a cooler pet!” She said it like it was the most obvious thing on the planet. She chuckled at her daughter's logic that very much matched her fathers.

“Alright, well we’ll see.” She said, handing Claire a pack of muffins before she started going through the mail. 

She wasn’t surprised to see the usual junk mail and bills, but one letter that was clearly handwritten caught her eye. 

It was addressed to Adrian with a return address, but no name and forwarded from his mom’s house. It had been years since they had gotten anything forwarded from there let alone something looking as intentional as a handwritten letter. She’s not even sure the last time they got a letter like that period. 

She spared Claire a look as she watched her hum as she ate her snack, doing a little dance as she enjoyed her sweet treat. Even though it was a little early she stepped out of the room and dialed Adrian’s number. 

“Hey, baby! You’re early, is everything okay? Did Claire get off the bus okay?” Adrian answered immediately and she smiled at his instant worry for them. She sat on the edge of the couch, perching where she could still see Claire, but be far away enough that the young girl wouldn’t notice. 

“Yeah, we’re both okay. Strange question for you though, are you expecting a letter?” She asked, looking at the letter in her hands. 

“I never know what’s coming in our mailbox, you know that,” he answered and she chuckled. 

“Okay good point, but there’s a letter here for you and it looks to be handwritten,” she said.

“A letter to me? Like handwritten?” He asked, sounding surprised on the phone. 

“Yeah, it’s forwarded from your mom’s. There’s a return address but no name,” she said, turning the envelope over again, but there was really no clue to who it could be from. 

“Who the fuck is sending me a letter?” He asked and she laughed. 

“No offense baby but that’s what I’m trying to figure out,” she said and Adrian huffed out a laugh. “Can I open it or do you want to wait till you get back?” 

“It’s funny you think I can wait that long and that I won’t be thinking of the envelope the entire time till I get back if you don’t open it right now,” he said dead serious and she laughed. 

“Alright, alright,” she said, holding the phone between her ear and shoulder as she teared open the letter and pulled out a single handwritten page. “huh,” she said as she looked at the name, her stomach instantly turning.

“What? What is it?” 

“It’s a letter from your dad,” she said, skimming the page, “he’s inviting us to his house for the fourth of July.” 

“Who?” He asked, voice was tight and she could tell that he was starting to pace, her heart cracked a little picturing the sight of him panicking alone in a shitty room, far away from her. 

“Your dad,” she repeated as gently as possible but even over the phone she could tell how even the concept of the letter was affecting him. 

“Can you read it all to me?” He asked, sounding suddenly small over the phone and she closed her eyes, wishing either of them had had the patience to wait to do this till Adrian was home where she could comfort him. 

“‘Dear Adrian, I hope you’re doing well. I heard from your mom that you got married and you’ve had your first child! I want to wish you congratulations, that’s such a huge milestone and you should be really proud. I know it’s been a while, but I wanted to invite you and your family to come down to visit me in San Francisco for the fourth of July. We clearly have so much to catch up on! I’ve attached my number so we can figure out timing and plans! I hope to hear from you soon. Your dad, Charles Chase.’” She read in a soft voice, her eyes on Claire once she was done reading, the small girl had finished her snack and had already moved onto pulling out her homework. She listened to Adrian breathing on the other end, waiting for him to say anything. “Baby, you there?” 

“Yeah, I’m here,” he said softly. 

“You don’t have to decide what we do right now, we can talk about it-”

“We don’t need to talk about we’re not going,” he said immediately and she could feel the tension over the phone. 

“Adrian-”

“No, why the fuck would we go? Why the fuck would we subject Claire to that? I haven’t heard from him in almost 15 years and you want us to do what? Go to his house and act like nothing has happened? No, we’re not going,” Adrian said and she frowned as he clicked the phone, hanging up on her. She sighed, fidgeting with the phone and the letter as she thought of Adrian, either alone in his room or immediately putting on his Vigilante suit to stop some low level criminals, anything to just feel like this wasn’t happening to him.

God, she should’ve waited the moment she realized what the letter was and who it was from. Getting Adrian to talk about his upbringing at all was like pulling teeth, most of what she had learned was from his mom and even then she wasn’t sure what was really true. It was clear to her that his mom seemed to remember everything with rose colored glasses, especially considering how Gut behaved the one time she had met him. 

Her phone started buzzing in her hand and she was met with her favorite picture of Adrian with Claire when she was a toddler. She immediately answered. 

“Adrian-”

“I love you,” he interrupted. “I’m sorry for hanging up on you, but I’m upset and I hate this,” he breathed out and she smiled. 

“I love you too, baby. I’m sorry for upsetting you.” She said as she stood up and walked back to the kitchen, Clarie immediately honed in on the fact that she was holding the phone. Claire dropped her color pencil and started jumping up and down reaching for her phone. 

“It’s not your fault he wrote a letter,” he said, “I just fuck, that’s a lot to unpack.”

“Do you want to feel better about it?” She asked, brushing Claire’s dark curls back, ones that matched her father’s, as she looked down at her. 

“I really don’t think there’s anything you can say-” he started and she smiled as she put the phone on speaker, crouching down to Claire’s level. 

“Daddy!” Claire yelled into the phone and Adrian’s voice stopped dead in its tracks. 

“Hi, Claire Polar Bear! Are you being good for your mom?” Adrian asked, his voice immediately changed, no hint of him being upset remained. 

“I am not a polar bear!” Claire immediately said, giving a hard almost fake sounding laugh just like Adrian’s. 

“I wouldn’t know, last time I saw you I could’ve sworn you were a polar bear!” 

“Daddy!” 

“I’m sorry, princess. How was school today?” He asked and she helped Claire back into her chair, placing her phone on the counter so Claire could keep talking while she started moving around. 

“It was good, mommy said I could get a lizard,” she whispered into the phone, leaning over the counter. 

“Claire Anne Chase, you do not lie especially to your father,” she immediately said and Claire shyly looked away from her mom. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered and she gave her a small smile. 

“Yeah, baby you know better. Plus, I hate to break it to you, but daddy knows mommy like the back of his hand so he knew that was a lie,” he admitted and she immediately wanted to comment on the fact that she knew Adrian and she knew even though he was putting on a brave face in this moment he was still struggling internally. 

And she had no idea how to make it okay. 

“Daddy, when are you coming home?” Claire said, snapping her out of her own spiral as Adrian chuckled. 

“I’ll get home tomorrow while you’re at school, okay? I will be home and ready to play when you’re back from school,” he said and Claire frowned, bouncing slightly. 

“Will you pick me up from the bus stop?” Claire asked and she chuckled. 

“What, you don’t want mommy to pick you up anymore?” She joked and Claire smiled slightly. 

“No! I want both mommy AND daddy to pick me up!” Claire said like to was the most obvious thing on the planet. 

“Of course, baby. We’ll both be there tomorrow.” Adrian said softly on the phone and she smiled. Moving to get to work on dinner while Claire and Adrian both chattered away, but her thoughts kept drifting back to the letter. 

She knew Adrian was not going to address it, in fact the moment he found the letter in the house he was going to get rid of it in some way. He was going to refuse to talk to her about whether it was the right thing or not. It had taken years to truly get Adrian to unpack how rough his childhood was. Between his mom losing it, Gut tormenting him, and his dad just leaving; Adrian’s happy memories were few and far between. He always played it off like it didn’t bother him but she noticed the way little comments would get to him and how he was eager to distance his new family away from his old family, keeping them in a protective bubble.  

She was sure that had a lot to do with why Adrian cared so much about Claire’s childhood from day one. Taking lots of pictures, being there for every moment, and as the years went on being at her beck and call. Convincing Adrian to start taking in field missions again after essentially being on two years of training and desk duty just out of fear of being too far away from them took months of talking and begging him to see that both of you would be okay. That he didn’t have to kill himself worrying about them all the time - that he can have his life as Vigilante and them too. 

Even then, it took time to get him back into the routine. 

However the moment she heard Adrian’s key turn in their front door a few hours before Claire should be home she could feel the tension. She was slow to move towards the front of the house, meeting a very disheveled Adrian at the front door as he dropped his heavy duffle bag. 

“Oh baby,” she murmured as she walked towards him, taking him in her arms as he grabbed her tightly. He shoved his head in the crook of her neck, breathing her in with a shaky breath. “That bad?” She asked as he nodded against her. 

She stayed silent and steady as he held onto her for dear life and she couldn’t tell if his reaction was because of the mission or because his thoughts were still scrambled from the letter from his dad.

“Are you hurt?” She asked as gently as possible and he sighed, finally prying himself just far away enough from her that she could see his eyes.

“I’m not hurt,” he said, voice scratchy and she kissed his cheek, content in the knowledge that at this point Adrian knew to always tell her if he got hurt. No more bleeding out alone in his car while he napped, hoping his body would mend. 

“We’ve got about two hours before Claire gets home, you want to take a shower and I’ll make you something to eat?” She said, holding his face between her hands as he gave her a lazy smile. 

“Shower with me?” He asked and she gave him a light glare before nodding. 

“Go put your bag away and I’ll get the shower ready,” she said, giving his cheek a pat before heading towards the bathroom. She immediately turned the shower to probably way too hot and undressed. 

“My favorite view,” he teased in a sleepy voice as he dragged himself into the bathroom, she smiled looking over her shoulder at him as she moved over to help him take off his clothes. Her fingers traced over old scars and a few new bruises that would probably be gone by time they were out of the shower. 

“I thought you weren’t hurt?” She demanded, hand ghosting over the bruise as Adrian tensed, not from pain but from being caught. 

“It’s old?” He tried and she looked at him and he immediately crumbled. “It’ll be healed before Claire gets home, it’s not a big deal.” 

“It is to me, Ade. Anytime you’re hurt is a big deal, even if it’s a paper cut, okay? I want-” she doesn’t get to finish because Adrian’s hand came to her chin and lifted her gaze up to his eyes. He had the smallest smile on his face before he leaned in for a soft and gentle kiss. 

“I love you,” he murmured against her mouth as she clicked her tongue. 

“Don’t think that gets you off the hook, mister,” she said, pulling away to check the temperature of the shower, Adrian holding her other hand as she gave him a small tug as she stepped into the warm water. 

When they picked this house Adrian had made sure that almost every room had the space to allow them to do typically separate tasks together. They had dual sinks to brush their teeth together, their kitchen was big enough that they could easily cook together (her cooking, Adrian sitting on the counter claiming to help), and that their shower could easily fit them both under the large spray of water. Even in her office, Adrian had his own chair, one that recently got a smaller matching one for Claire. 

She moved slowly as she started washing his hair, careful to untangle any knots. Adrian hummed as she scrubbed, but other than that he wasn’t his normal chatterbox self. Normally by now she would’ve heard all about the mission, all the animals he’d saw, and-

“I missed you so much,” he murmured, wrapping his arms around her, tighter than normal and forcing her to stop her washing. A deep frown on her features as she wrapped her arms around him, careful to not get any conditioner on her as she kissed his neck. 

“I missed you too, baby,” she whispered. “Let me finish and then we can rest before Claire gets home.” 

“Can we order dinner tonight?” He asked, pulling back just enough so she could continue to work but his hands stayed put on his waist, rubbing circles with his thumbs. She finished washing his hair and pulled apart just enough to get to work on cleaning his body. She knew he could do this himself and normally he’d put up a fight on the fact she was taking care of him and he wasn’t doing anything, but he was so off he just went through the motions as she worked. 

“What are you in the mood for?” She asked, as she scrubbed him down. 

“Anything you and Claire want,” he said immediately and she smiled. 

“You know exactly what she’s going to ask for, so are you sure you want to do that?” She teased gently and Adrian let out a small chuckle. 

“Her obsession with Italian food should be studied.”

“Makes sense, when we first got together we were eating Fennel Fields like every other night,” she said as she moved to turn off the water. “Plus before I came around you pretty much only liked butter noodles,” she teased. 

“Okay, that’s not true. Just because that was my favorite doesn’t mean it was all I liked,” he said frowning and she smiled as she pulled on her robe and grabbed his to help him put on. “Plus now I much prefer chicken alfredo and mozzarella sticks.” 

“Yeah your palate has really matured,” she muttered with a smile. “Do you want me to put curl cream in your hair and diffuse it?” She asked and Adrian shook his head no. 

“Let’s go nap,” he said and she led them back to the bed, where Adrian immediately collapsed face down. She laughed and joined him, curling into his side with one hand and leg thrown over him and her face pressed against his shoulder. Almost like his own personal weighted blanket. She felt Adrian sigh underneath her as she played with his damp hair. 

“Was the mission that rough?” she asked gently and Adrian took a minute, the air around them wasn’t necessarily tense but she wouldn’t call it comfortable either. She continued playing with his hair, her concern rising the longer it took her normally blabbermouth husband to talk. 

“No, it was fine,” he finally answered. 

“Are you okay?” she tried, playfully tugging his hair so he would turn his head just enough to make him look at her. He’s got a look on his face that she has a hard time reading, like he wasn’t fully sure if he wanted to talk. “Adrian,” she pressed. 

“Did you get rid of the letter?” 

“No,” she said gently. “I put it up, but you don’t have to look at it if you don’t want to.” 

“Can you go grab it?” he asked and she nodded and slowly moved out of the room. Pulling the letter out of the junk drawer, knowing Adrian rarely actually looks in that drawer rather he just throws random stuff in it for her to find later. As she walked back in the room, the letter held in both her hands Adrian had sat up, still in his robe. 

“Here,” she said, handing it to him. To offer him some privacy she moved around their room as slowly as possible getting dressed in some comfy clothes, keeping her back towards him. When she finally turned around to look at him he’s still holding the unopened letter in his hands. 

“Did you tell Claire about the letter?” He asked softly, catching her eyes as she walked back over towards him. She climbed back on the bed, moving behind him as she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned against him. 

“No, baby, just you,” she said as he nodded. Those words seemed to snap him out of it as he pulled away getting out of bed, shoving the letter in his nightstand as he started getting ready to get Claire off the bus. “Ade, we’ve got a couple hours so you can relax, you don’t have to get ready just because I did.” 

“I think I’m going to go on a run,” he mumbled as he pulled on his underwear and moved for his work out clothes and she was quick to get up and stop him from getting any further. 

“Hey,” she said gently, her hands cupping his face. “I’ve missed you, please don’t come home and just shut down on me.” 

“I’m not trying to,” he murmured, leaning towards her, almost a subconscious movement. 

“We don’t have to talk about the letter now, let’s just get you rested and ready for the tornado that is our daughter, okay?” she asked and Adrian cracked a smile at the mention of Claire.

“Okay,” he relented. The next few hours went by slowly as she finished helping Adrian get ready to at least pretend to be normal. Together they unpack his bag, she moves to start his laundry as she he makes his way to their basement to put his gear away. 

Her mind kept drifting back to the letter, shoved in his nightstand. She would tell it was weighing on him and Adrian never did great with addressing things that bother him. He’d much prefer to cut whatever was bothering him out and ignore it. It had been a slow progress to get Adrian to address issues head on instead of hiding them and he had made great progress once he finally had a listening ear, but when it came to his family and childhood he would just shut down. 

She had dragged some information out of Chris early on, mainly about Gut and just how awful he was towards Adrian when they were both in high school and the first time she saw a picture of younger Adrian she had to fight back tears thinking about the hell his own brother put him through and the fact he had no one to defend him. 

She had her arms wrapped around his middle, chin resting on his shoulder as they both stood at the end of the driveway waiting for Claire’s school bus. Adrian's arms holding hers against him, she loosened her grip the moment she spotted the yellow bus heading towards their house. 

“Daddy!” Claire shouted from the moment the bus stopped. She covered her mouth to stifle a laugh as she listened to Claire practically scream as she ran off the bus. Adrian was already on one knee as Claire threw herself at him, he lifted her up and spun her around, his laugh loud and carefree. 

“I missed you baby girl!” He said as she waved to the bus driver as they pulled away. One of her hands came to rest on Adrian’s shoulder as she kissed Claire's cheek. 

“We have so much to do!” Claire immediately said squirming out of Adrian’s grip, Adrian put her down and the little girl grabbed his hand and started pulling him up the driveway. “I checked out a new reptile book for us and we still have to finish our clay animals! Mommy said they’ll be dry now that you’re back!” 

She smiled as she followed the two up the driveway while Claire blabbered about everything Adrian had missed while he was away. She gave them their space and let Adrian enjoy some decompressing time with Claire. She handled dinner, not even bothering to interrupt them as she knew their orders like the back of her hand. 

“You do dishes, I’m going to get her ready for bed,” she said softly, kissing Adrian’s cheek as he hummed in agreement. 

“Don’t start a book without me!” He called after her and she laughed, shaking her head but at least happy that Adrian was seeming to be coming around somewhat normally. 

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Chase!” She said back as she ushered Claire into her room and started going through her nighttime routine, pajamas, brushing her teeth, and resetting her room. One that Claire was moving slower than normal through, especially considering she knew Adrian would be coming to read to her and according to Claire ‘Daddy does the story voices way better than Mommy.’ 

“Daddy is being weird,” Claire whispered, her little hang tugging at her shirt to bring her closer. She gave her daughter a small smile as she cupped her little cheeks. 

“He’s had a weird day,” she said softly. Claire frowned, worry etched on her little features, an expression she had seen a thousand times from Adrian. Sometimes her heart ached with how much Claire was such a mini Adrian, imagining him when he was small and alone.  

“But he’ll be okay?” She asked and she felt her heart clench. She was glad Adrian wasn’t in earshot of this conversation because it would shatter his heart to hear how worried Claire was for him. 

“Yeah, baby, he’ll be okay,” she said, pulling her daughter in for a much needed hug. “He has us.” 

“I vote for the Grumpy Lady Bug tonight! What do you think, Claire Brown Bear?” Adrian said, clapping his hands as he walked into the room, a smile plastered on his face. 

She let Adrian handle putting Claire down as she wrapped up the household chores and shutting the house down for the night. Normally, Adrian would come out and at the very least sit on the counter and yap while she worked, but tonight all she heard was him wrap up with Claire and head to their bedroom. 

When she finally joined him, he was sitting up in bed in his pajamas but his nightstand light was still on and his eyes were on the ceiling. She moved around the room, getting herself ready for bed before climbing into his arms in the bed. He was quick to wrap her up and press a kiss to her forehead. 

“I’m so glad you’re home,” she said gently, sighing and pushing herself closer to him. Adrian squeezed her. 

“Me too,” he murmured. She let the silence take over the room as she listened closely to Adrian’s heart beat. 

“Did you read the letter?” she finally asked after Adrian made no movement to turn off his light. 

“Yeah,” he said with a sigh. 

“And what are you thinking?” she asked, looking up at him as he pulled off his glasses and sat them on his nightstand, his hand coming back to play with her hair. Her gaze returned to the wall in an attempt to give him some space. 

“Same thing I said on the phone,” he muttered and she frowned. 

“We could go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium," she whispered against his chest as he tensed underneath her. “We could go see Alcatraz, I’m pretty sure San Francisco has a killer science museum too.” 

Adrian hummed, but didn’t say anything. She moved her head so her chin was resting on his chest, her eyes locked on his face as he looked at the ceiling. She could feel his heart racing underneath her. 

“It’s one week, one chance, Ade.” She insisted. 

“He doesn’t deserve it.”

“Okay, maybe that’s true, but don’t you think Claire deserves it?” She pressed and she could see Adrian’s argument weaken on his face. 

“He’s just some guy! She has no idea that she even has a grandfather!” He complained and despite herself she laughed. 

“You think that she just thinks you came out of nowhere with no parents?” She said with a chuckle. “Baby, I know she’s five but she is starting to understand the world around her and she knows we both have parents. I know she’s not asking questions now, but trust me one day she will.” 

“She can ask questions, that’s different from meeting him,” he retorted, sitting up and the moment she sat up too he scooted away from her, a pained look on his expression. 

“Adrian, I’m not trying to upset you. I’m just making sure you fully understand what you’re saying.”

“I do understand! It’s him that doesn’t understand; he left! He doesn’t just get to come back into my life now because he wants to!” 

“Okay,” she said gently, watching as his chest was rising and falling fast, clearly on the verge of a breakdown. She moved closer to him, as if he was a spooked animal. Her hand came to rest on his cheek, moving his face to look at her. His green eyes were wild and filled with unshed tears. “Baby, it’s okay. I understand. I just want you to understand what you’re saying no to, okay?” 

“I do understand and I just can’t-” 

“Is Daddy okay?” Both their heads whipped around to see Claire standing in the doorway, her teal baby blanket clutched tightly in one hand as her eyes were on Adrian. Her eyes filled with tears to match Adrian’s. 

“Oh baby,” she said gently and the little girl quickly ran over to them, pulling herself onto the bed and wrapping her arms around him. Adrian closed his eyes and held her tight as the young girl started sobbing. 

“We don’t have to go to ‘Francisco! Don’t cry, daddy!” she said and Adrian tensed and looked at her. 

“You told her?” he accused, eyes wide on her. 

“No!” 

“I heard you guys talking, but we don’t have to go on a trip! I love Evergreen, we don’t ever have to leave!” 

“It’s a little more complicated than that, baby,” she said gently scooting closer to them both, hand resting on Claire’s back as she let out a cry.

“I don’t understand!” Claire cried, pulling at Adrian’s shirt. She gave Adrian an apologetic look. 

Before pulling back Adrian, wiped away his own tears so Claire wouldn’t see. Something she hadn’t seen Adrian do in a long time, always feeling comfortable with her and Claire. He had even remarked on multiple occasions on how important it was for Claire to see people cry and be vulnerable.

“Daddy’s dad wants to meet you and mommy, but me and my dad don’t get along like you and me do. I haven’t seen him in a very long time,” Adrian said gently, eyes locked on Claire. “Mommy thinks we should give him a chance, but I’m not sure because it's been a really long time. What do you think?” He asked Claire who genuinely seemed to ponder the question. 

“And he’s in ‘Francisco?" 

“San Francisco, baby. It’s a city in California,” she added gently and Claire looked at her. Her little eyes searched her face for an answer she didn’t have. 

“If we go, will you be sad? I don’t want to go if you’ll be sad,” Claire said and her heart clenched, for such a young girl to have such high empathy and worry for her father, it was both sweet and devastating. Adrian shrugged, his hands fidgeting slightly. 

“Maybe a little, but over anything I want to make sure you’re happy and if you want to meet him then we can do that,” Adrian said and she gave him a soft smile, knowing just how much he was sacrificing. 

“Are there cool animals in San Francisco?” Claire asked and Adrian let out an unexpected laugh. 

“Yeah, baby. Mommy was just telling me there’s an aquarium we could go to,” he said gently, his eyes went to hers and he nodded at her. 

“I think we can try San Francisco and if we hate it we never have to go back,” Claire said with a shrug and Adrian smiled at her. 

“Alright, then mommy and daddy will figure out the details, but let’s get you back to bed!” Adrian said, grabbing Claire and making her laugh as he spun her around. He was quick to move her so he was holding her upside down as her laugh filled their home. 

“Oh yes, get her riled up before putting her to bed, that’s smart,” she said dryly but couldn’t help the smile on her face as she caught Adrian’s green eyes. He gave her a small smile and a nod, a moment just for them to realize that even if he wasn’t sure he’d go through it if it was something his family wanted for him. 

The next few months passed slowly, she could tell it was always on the back of his mind as she handled all the communication with his dad and booking their flights. His dad was ecstatic to hear from her, even more excited when she sent over a family photo of them to help with airport pick up, immediately commenting on how much Claire looked like Adrian when he was her age. She tried to talk to Adrian about what his dad was saying and the plan but every time he would get a sick look on his face and get fidgety, so she decided not to push it. Even Claire seemed to be aware of how weird Adrian was being and kept her excitement about the trip to a minimum. 

But even that fact seemed to be weighing heavy on Adrian, the idea that his family felt like they had to walk around eggshells around him was causing a growing ache in his bones.

“Is this a good idea?” he murmured the night before they were supposed to leave, head resting on her chest while her hand played with his hair, as she used her other hand to check in for their flights. 

“The flights are non refundable, Ade.” she whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. “It’s one week and I’ve already got us tickets for stuff for just the three of us to do. I’m sure your dad will understand you need space.”

“What if he doesn’t?”

“Then I’ll tell him? Adrian, I know this is stressful and it might not feel like it but at the end of the day you’re still an adult and at any point the three of us could go take a walk or go to dinner. Hell, you could even go by yourself if you needed some time.” 

After that Adrian didn’t say anything more about it, opting instead to press sweet kisses to her neck before she put her phone down, laughing as he pulled himself on top of her smile plastered on his face. 

“I love you, you know that right?” He murmured against her ear as he pressed a kiss to the side of her face. 

“I don’t think you’d ever let me forget you,” she said, hands running through his curls. “My lover boy,” she purred. Adrian smiled before pressing a firm but open mouth kiss on her lips. 

“Is the door locked?” he asked, looking at her with a slight twinkle in his eyes and she laughed. 

“Bold of you to assume this is going the way you want it to go, but yes our room door is locked,” she teased, having zero intention of telling Adrian no. She let out a sharp laugh as he blew a raspberry on her neck. “You better get to work, because Claire is still going to wake up at six even without school.” 

“I’ll wake up with her,” he murmured, licking up her neck before going to pull off her sleep shirt. 

“Yeah and that’ll last five minutes before you both end up missing me so much that you feel like you have to wake me up,” she said, a small gasp escaping her as Adrian got to work. 

“Come on, you know last time it was at least twenty minutes,” he teased and she giggled. “Besides, it’ll be our last chance till we get back.” 

“Then you better make it last, Chase.” 

Adrian’s good mood lasted through the morning, but once it was time to head to the airport and Chris had come and got the three of them to drop them off he was back to being shut down. Chris couldn’t even get much out of him, outside of a small promise that Chris would score some more appliances for the two before he got back from California Adrian’s expression was unchanging. Despite her concern she let Adrian just…feel what he needed to feel and simply just held his hand, giving him a comforting squeeze as they navigated their way through their first out of state vacation as a family. 

The airport was surprisingly a breeze and Claire did a great job making sure she either had her hand or Adrian’s. Her plane backpack filled with a few of her favorite books and some art supplies, however she spent most of the time looking around the airport and all the different people. Only crinkling her nose when she had to take her shoes off for security, matching Adrian’s expression. 

Once they were on the plane Adrian had taken the aisle seat, Claire in the middle, and her in the window seat.  

“Ade, we gotta talk about something before we get there,” she said looking over Claire, who had her headphones in watching Bluey, to Adrian in the aisle seat. He looked over, looking exhausted, despite the fact that it was only eight in the evening.

“What?” 

“How are we going to introduce him to Claire?” She asked softly and Adrian tilted his head. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Like he’s your dad she knows that, but is she going to call him by his name, Poppop, gramps, something else?” She asked and Adrian furrowed his brow. 

“We’re mommy and daddy, why would he be anything other than grandpa? She calls my mom grandma,” he said, shuffling in his seat and she nodded. 

“Okay, that works, I just…wanted you to be prepared.” 

“I don’t think I could be prepared even if I wanted to,” Adrian muttered, clicking on the seat TV and groaning when he realized they only had 45 minutes left of the flight. “Is it too late to go home?” 

“Ade…”

“I know! I know!” He grumbled and she reached over Claire and awkwardly grabbed his hand. He immediately squeezed it back. “I’m glad you guys are at least with me for this.” 

“Adrian, of course. We both love you, I love you. I’m always happy to be there for you,” she said, emphasizing her words hoping that Adrian really heard her and understood what she was saying. He smiled before leaning back in his seat. 

The rest of the flight passed in silence, Claire falling asleep during the last twenty minutes and Adrian opted for carrying Claire off the plane instead of waking up, only pouting slightly when she grabbed their bags since his arms were full. It became clear his ulterior motives of carrying her once they finally bumped into his dad. 

If his arms were full, his dad couldn’t hug him. 

She wanted to roll her eyes at the action, but she knew him being here was enough of a struggle.

“Mr. Chase! It’s so nice to meet you in person!” she said, offering the man the hug that he was clearly expecting to get from Adrian. He was shorter than she was expecting considering how tall Adrian and Gut were, his eyes were also a sharp blue, nothing like the dark green of Adrians. In fact the only thing that looked remotely similar between the two men were the gray curls on top of his head. 

“Call me Charles! It’s so nice to meet you too and oh my goodness is this Claire!” he asked, pulling back and looking at Adrian who shifted uncomfortably, but at least moved so he could see her sleeping face, her carseat clenched tightly in his freehand. “Adrian, she looks just like you were at that age!” 

“It’s past her bedtime, so we probably should go back to the house and get her down,” Adrian said looking at her and she nodded. 

“It was her first time traveling and I think all the new people really wore her out,” she said, smiling at the older man who nodded, clearly fighting the defeat on his face from Adrian’s lack of a reaction towards him. 

“Of course, of course. Here let me take one of those bags! The car is just in the garage, probably a five minute walk!” he said and she nodded letting him take her bag as she readjusted Claire’s backpack on her back and pulled Adrian’s suitcase as they followed his dad. She was closer to him than Adrian who seemed perfectly content staying a few paces behind them. 

“We haven’t gotten to use these since our honeymoon,” she said, making conversation with Charles since Adrian wasn’t going to step up.

“Oh! Well, I’m excited you guys decided to come out then. Where did you guys honeymoon?” He asked and she couldn’t help the small laugh that bubbled out. 

“We went to Indianapolis actually,” she said, turning to look at Adrian briefly, remembering the two weeks they spent in the midwest. All their friends had teased them about their location choice, but she would go anywhere with Adrian and when he had brought up the random city with his research she couldn’t say no. “They have this really famous steakhouse that had been on our list for a while and they’ve got some really cool museums, a zoo, and a lot of bookstores.” 

“We actually stayed at a hotel that used to be a Coca Cola bottling plant!” Adrian said, piping in for the first time with a smile. “It was also right next to a Duckpin bowling place with like thirty different pinball machines!” 

“Wow, I mean that sounds like…fun,” he said, not sounding convinced and out of the corner of her eye she saw Adrian deflate slightly. 

“It really was,” she said confidently. “I wouldn’t have picked anywhere else. How many people get to say they pet a shark on their honeymoon?” 

The rest of the walk to the car was quiet, but at least not as awkward as she thought it would be. Adrian was quick to get Claire’s carseat situated and the girl in her seat, closing the door slowly but firmly so as to not wake her. 

“It’s about an hour car ride,” Charles said as she got into the front seat, already knowing Adrian would want to be in the back with Claire. “Do you guys have any music preference or we can just chat on the ride?”

“We probably shouldn’t talk so Claire can sleep,” Adrian said immediately, his hand snaking between the passenger door and her shoulder to rest on her arm. She patted his hand and gave Charles a look, trying to convey an apology for Adrian, but the man just sighed and didn’t even bother looking over at her before he started driving. 

Adrian kept his hand on her, even if it was an awkward angle. She could tell he needed to be grounded, but there was not much she could do in the car. The hour passed slow and steady, she kept her phone out just in case Adrian wanted to send her a text. He didn’t but at least once they got to the house Adrian let her carry Claire as he carried their luggage. 

“I’ve got you guys set up in the guest room and if you’d like the couch pulls out so Claire could sleep there that way you guys can have some privacy!” Charles offered as he opened the door to a beautiful decorated room, filled with an almost retro vibe and a huge window that overlooked not only the neighborhood but she could see the ocean in the distance since they were high up on a hill. She couldn’t help the smile on her face, she loved Evergreen, but San Francisco was starting to steal her heart. 

“No, she’ll stay in here with us,” Adrian said immediately, putting their luggage on the bed as Claire rubbed her face on her shoulder, still passed out from the long day. She watched Adrain as he kept his back towards his dad as he started unpacking, clearly done with the conversation. 

“We’ll talk about it, but for tonight we’ll keep her in here just so she doesn’t wake up and get scared,” she said gently and Chalres nodded. 

“Let me go get some extra blankets then so you can make a pallet for her,” he said before leaving the room and Adrian physically sagged. She walked over and leaned against him, exhausted from the travel, Adrian placed one hand on her back and the other starting running through Claire’s hair. 

“You okay?” she asked gently and Adrian pressed a kiss to her head. 

“Always better with you by my side,” he murmured right before his dad came back with a huge stack of blankets. Adrian was quick to grab them and start making a little bed for Claire. 

“She’s normally an early riser but we brought snacks for her and stuff to do so the whole house doesn’t have to wake up on her schedule,” she said, giving Charles a small smile. 

“No worries at all, I figured you guys would want to sleep in a little, but I can make breakfast around nine?” he asked and she nodded. “The bathroom is just across the hall and there’s nightlights to light the way.”

“That sounds great, thank you so much,” she said and he nodded and left the three alone. Adrian immediately got up and locked the door and took Claire from her to tuck her in. She sighed and stretched her arms, the five year old getting too big for her to carry around so much. The last time she made the comment to Adrian he had looked at her, horrified, and told her she would never get too big. 

She started unpacking, throwing Adrian his pajamas as she put hers on and left the room to get ready in the bathroom. She wasn’t sure if Adrian was going to calm down or if this was going to be the entire week, but she had no idea how his nervous system was going to handle an entire week in fight or flight. Especially considering he had no outlet to just go out as Vigilante. 

“Adrian, unlock the door,” she said, knocking gently and he immediately unlocked the door, as he quickly looked behind her and the side clearly looking for his dad. She fought the urge to roll her eyes. “Is this going to be all week?” she asked, pressing a kiss to his cheek before making her way to the bed. Claire’s soft snores filled the room. 

“Maybe,” he said, following her into the bed and immediately wrapping her up in his arms. 

“Well, maybe to help with that tomorrow after breakfast we go to the aquarium?” she said and Adrian kissed the back of her head. “It’s about a two hour drive, but I already told your dad it would probably be one of the first things we’ll want to go to do.”

“Please, Claire is going to go nuts!” He yell whispered directly in her ear. She cringed but let out a small giggle before leaning back against him even more. 

“Yeah, Claire is going to go nuts,” she teased, setting her alarm for the morning, knowing they won’t even need it because Claire will most definitely wake them up. “How are you feeling so far?” 

“Like we’re in a strangers home and I don’t even know all the exit points yet,” he murmured after a beat. 

“Adrian…” she said and he sighed. 

“I know,” he grumbled. “I’m trying.” 

“I know you are and I’m so proud of you,” she said, gripping his arms and he sighed. “Get some rest baby, because Claire is definitely going to be awake in five hours.” 

“Maybe six if we’re lucky,” Adrian said, leaning back to turn off the light in the room and she sighed, letting the exhaustion of the day finally catch up with her. Adrian’s arms stayed firm around her. Which she appreciated considering how cold the house felt. It didn’t take long for sleep to claim her, Adrian not far behind her. 

Unfortunately, they didn’t get lucky and she woke up at five in the morning to Claire peeling her eyelids back. She groaned and turned towards Adrian, he let out a low chuckle as she pressed herself hard in his chest. 

“Good morning, Claire Bear,” he murmured, hands rubbing her back. “Can you let me and your mom get a little more sleep?” 

“Lost cause,” she said into his chest. 

“But I’m not tired anymore!” Claire said at a volume way too loud for how early it was. She groaned and Adrian pulled himself out of bed. She whined at the loss of his warmth. 

“Can you play quietly for a few minutes while I get dressed and we’ll go take a walk?” he asked and Claire must’ve agreed because she felt the girl retreat to her pallet, snagging her backpack on the way. Adrian pressed a firm kiss to her forehead. “Before you doze off, can you text me the address?” 

“Just look outside,” she murmured. “Or use my location, I’m not going anywhere.” He let out a small chuckle as she threw the blanket over herself to try to block out Claire and Adrian’s version of being quiet. Not a single quiet bone in either of their bodies. 

She’s not sure how long she was asleep before she made her way down the creaky stairs, but after checking Adrian’s location and seeing that he and Claire still seemed to be on their walk she got ready and made her way downstairs towards the sounds and the smells of the kitchen.

She’s immediately greeted by what one would say is way too much food for four people. There were homemade waffles with all the fixings, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, some fresh fruit, chocolate milk, and what appeared to be fresh squeezed orange juice. 

Charles really had a spread going, one that she couldn’t wait to dig into. 

“Oh wow,” she said and Charles' eyes flew to hers as he gave an awkward chuckle.

“Sorry, I didn’t know what you guys would like and we can go to breakfast if-”

“No, no! This is perfect, Adrian’s favorite breakfast is waffles with peanut butter so he’ll be excited,” she said quickly smiling at the older man as the front door swung open. 

“Mommy!” screamed Claire as she came barely into the room and straight into her legs. She winced but smiled as she ran a hand through the young girl's hair. “We found three ant hills!” 

“Hey baby,” Adrian said softly, kissing her cheek before taking in the spread for himself. 

“Three! That’s so many, I bet you worked up an appetite! Look what Grandpa made us for this morning!” 

“Oh, is that who you are?” Claire asked, head tilting as she looked at Charles. Internally she cringed, in all her worry for Adrian she forgot to prep Claire on the trip past that they were visiting Adrian’s dad in San Francisco. 

“I…um yes,” he said, cringing slightly. “I’m your grandpa.” 

“Nice to meet you,” Claire said after a pause, moving so she was closer to Charles, holding out her little hand for him to shake. He laughed but took her hand and gave it a hardy shake which made Claire giggle. 

“It’s very nice to meet you too, Claire.” Adrian looked over at her, his lips pulling slightly up more. After a beat, he cleared his throat. “Well, let’s not let this food get cold!” 

“God, you don’t have to tell me twice, this smells amazing!” She said, sitting down as Adrian helped Claire into one the seat next to her, the small round table leaving Adrian with no choice but to sit next to his dad. She stood up with a plate and began adding food to Claire’s plate before Adrian waved her off, brows furrowed as he grabbed the plate from her.  

“I’ll serve her, you get your food,” he murmured immediately and she smiled at him, putting her hands on her hips as she watched him from behind dipping Claire’s plate. 

“I even got chocolate milk, Adrian! You used to drink so much growing up,” Charles said with a smile as he handed Adrian the glass jug of milk. 

“I don’t drink chocolate milk, I'm not a child,” Adrian grumbled as he accepted the jug to pour Claire a glass. “I’ll have orange juice like an adult.” 

“Adrian, you regularly drink Sunny D, so hush,” She teased as she planted a kiss on his cheek before finally deciding Adrian didn’t need her help for Claire’s plate and she grabbed hers and started loading up her own. If he was at all annoyed at her selling him out his expression doesn’t show it, instead he looks at her like he always does when she kisses him; like she’s hung the stars and the moon in the sky. 

“We can pick up some Sunny D at the store if you’d like,” Charles said immediately. 

“Orange juice is fine,” Adrian grumbled. 

“I like chocolate milk way more than Sunny D,” Claire chimed in and she laughed. 

“Yeah but that’s because you don’t have a refined palate like your dad!” Adrian teased, blowing a raspberry at her as he sat her plate in front of her, immediately digging in. 

“So, Adrian. What are you doing for work these days?” 

“I have a business with some friends,” Adrian said as he focused on dipping his own plate. 

“A business?” He said, blinking as he sat his own fork down, clearly not expecting that answer. She watched Adrian closely as she kept eating, his eyes were fixed on his plate as he slowly started to dig in. To be fair, the last update he must’ve gotten from Adrian’s mom was that he was a busboy. Both her and Adrian had tried to explain Checkmate to his mom a thousand times but she still thought it was just another restaurant. 

“Yeah,” Adrian said. 

“Doing what?” 

“Working.”

“It’s a covert operations agency,” she chimed in, knowing Adrian was going to keep dodging it. “They’ve been at it for about six years now, very successful.” 

“Daddy goes on missions once a month!” Claire chimed in happily. “But we still talk, don’t worry.” She couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of Claire making sure that Charles knew their routine. 

“Missions? So you’re like a spy?” 

“An agent,” he said tensely. “Where’s your husband? I thought you got remarried or did that go south too," Adrian said, turning the subject against his dad and she can tell immediately in his tone that he’s doing this on purpose. She kicked him under the table but he didn’t react at all to her. 

“Oh,” he said, clearing his throat. “We thought it was best if William wasn’t here while you guys visited. We didn’t want to overwhelm you guys so he’s actually visiting his family in North Carolina right now.” She watched the way Adrian flinched at the words and she knew immediately what he was thinking. He was being treated like a fragile child like he couldn’t handle anything, but by how he was reacting at simple questions it’s exactly how he was being. 

“That’s very considerate of you,” she said. “Maybe next time we can meet him.” Adrian’s eyes lock on hers, his brows furrowed and for a second he looks legitimately angry at her before he looked almost ashamed that he’d even start to look mad at her. 

“He’d love to meet you guys!” Charles said, clearly just happy that things seemed somewhat positive at least from her. “So, I know we talked on the phone about the plans for the trip, but were you guys still thinking about the aquarium for today?” Charles asked. 

“Yes!” Claire immediately said and both her and Adrian laughed. 

“Maybe let’s plan for tomorrow, spend today watching a movie and just hanging out. We could go tomorrow if the two hour drive isn’t too much to ask,” she said.

“Not at all, it’s been a while since I’ve been myself. I was more concerned that you guys might be too tired. Are you sure you guys will feel rested enough to go tomorrow? We can always push it off! The only thing with a real date is the fireworks in a few days.”

“These two? Too tired? I would love to see the day,” she teased and Adrian cracked a smile as he and Claire made eye contact with the same knowing grin on their faces. 

The rest of the breakfast mainly her and Charles chatting with Claire chiming in through mouthfuls of food occasionally. She offered to help wash the dishes when everyone was done but Charles waved them off telling them to go get ready for the day. Adrian was quick to leave the table, picking Claire up, and taking her with him. She followed quickly behind and the moment Claire had wiggled free to look around the room they had stayed in she cornered Adrian.

“Hey, listen to me,” she said putting a hand on his shoulder and he looked at her. “You can’t be a dick.” 

“Me? A dick?” He looked at her like he couldn’t believe what she was saying, green eyes wide in disbelief. 

“Adrian, he’s trying and you don’t have to be overtly nice, but we’re in the man’s home and you’re setting a bad example for Claire.” 

“A bad example? I’m the bad example? He-”

“Adrian, listen to me,” she said, taking his head between her hands forcing him to look at her. “I love you, I love you so much my bones ache and I want nothing more than to be by your side always and I understand that this is hard and it’s probably bringing up a lot of difficult memories from your childhood, but we are actively making memories for Claire. All I ask is if you want to have a more direct conversation with him we have it not in front of Claire, okay?” 

His expression fell at her words and he looked clearly ashamed at his action. 

“Do you think…do you think she’s upset with me?” he asked, in a small voice and she smiled gently at him before pulling him close enough to kiss the tip of his nose. 

“She has no idea what was happening at breakfast other than the fact that you seemed upset,” she said gently. “But that doesn’t mean if the behavior continues she won’t pick up on it.” 

Adrian sighed as she rubbed the apples of his cheeks. 

“It’s hard,” he murmured. 

“I know,” she said back. “Believe it or not, I think you’re doing good,” she said and a ghost of a smile crossed his face. 

“Really?” 

“Yes, this is hard. There’s no doubt in my mind that this is feeling impossible and daunting for you, but you’re doing so good.” 

“I love you,” he said, pulling her in for a tight hug, one that she was happy to return. Her cheek pressed firmly to his shoulder while her eyes went to Claire, who was watching them closely. She gave the small girl a wink and she giggled before running over and throwing herself into hugging her parents legs. 

“Can we watch a movie and color today?” Claire asked and she laughed, pulling back from Adrian to crouch down to Claire’s level. “Maybe go bug hunting?”

“That sounds good to me, baby. What do you think daddy?” She asked looking up at Adrian and he smiled with a small nod. 

The rest of the day was calm and quiet, Charles always in the background of activities and asking them questions. Adrian never seemed fully comfortable and relaxed but compared to the morning he had calmed down a lot. 

She was pleased with the fact that Adrian never seemed to get upset the rest of the day and had even given his dad a strained, but small smile. 

It seemed both her and Charles would take the win. 

The following morning, Claire was up early and ready to go to the aquarium, waking them up by squeezing herself into the bed between her and Adrian. Where she kept loudly sighing over and over again until they admitted defeat and got up. 

“Can we go now?” Claire asked, the moment their eyes opened, making both her and Adrian laugh. One track mind with that girl the moment animals were involved. Claire managed to keep them on schedule yelling “chop chop!” whenever they slowed down too much getting ready. 

When loading back up the car, Adrian had given her hand a squeeze as he sat in the back of the car with Claire. She took the front seat again with his dad, but at least this time the energy didn’t feel as tense in the car. 

“Do you think they have sea otters?” Claire asked Adrian and she smiled from the front seat as Charles kept driving. She knew this was about to be the next hour of the drive. 

“They sure do,” Adrian said and she could hear the smile in his voice. 

“Okay what about jellyfish?” she asked him. 

“Yes ma’am!” 

“Black rays?” 

“Pretty sure they do!" 

“Isopees?”

“Isopods, and yes!” 

“What about puffins?” 

“They have tufted puffins!” 

“The parrots of the sea!” Claire said proudly and Adrain laughed, clapping his hands making her smile from the front seat.

“Good job, baby!” 

“What are you the most excited to see, daddy?” she asked gently. 

“I’m the most excited for the life on the bay exhibit, you get to see the animals in their natural environment like-”

“Like harbor seals!” Claire said with a loud laugh. 

“Yes! What are you the most excited for?” He asked her. 

“Hmmm, probably the octopus!” she announced. 

“Do you remember how many suckers they have on each leg when they’re born?” Adrian asked, Claire took a moment to ponder. 

“14?” 

“Good job!” 

“Wow, you guys sure know your sea creatures!” Charles said with a chuckle. 

“It’s like this all day,” she teased. “Sometimes they quiz each other. I can’t even begin to describe the amount of animal books and those ‘who would win’ books we have.” 

“Hey! Those books are good,” Adrian complained and she laughed. 

“Yes, the first time you read them.” 

“Have you read them, grandpa?” Claire asked and she watched Charles tense slightly. 

“Oh, I umm I haven’t,” he said gently, glancing at the review mirror. 

“Hmm, that’s okay. Daddy did you pack any?” 

“I did, I brought hammerhead shark versus bull shark and whale versus giant squid,” he listed. 

“Okay, see we can read some together!” Claire suggested and she watched Charles grin. 

“I’d like that!” 

The rest of the ride to the aquarium was filled with soft music and Claire and Adrian babbling back and forth about all the different animals they were expecting to see. She smiled as she leaned her head back, eyes closed, just listening to them talk gently with each other. Being around Charles had started to make her wonder if young Adrian was like this too; just never ending facts and wanting to talk to people all day long. She wondered if anyone actually talked to him or at the very least listened to him. 

Based on Adrian’s very few stories, she figured the odds were low. 

Once they finally got to the aquarium, they were all quick to get out of the car to stretch. Both Claire and Adrian were quick to get out and take in the outside of the building. 

“Hey,” she said, pulling Adrian close into her as he kissed her cheek. “Remember the rule, gift shop at the end and be strong. One educational and one fun thing.” 

“We’re on vacation, maybe two fun things?” Adrian tried and she smiled as he winked at her. “Plus must fun toys have some educational bearing!” 

“This is one of many stops and gifts ships, trust that her backpack will be full by the end,” she said, giving him a light pat on the cheek as he leaned in to kiss her, accepting the small peck as an agreement to the rules. 

Claire and Adrian ended up leading the four through the aquarium, both of them chattering through every exhibit. Sharing fun facts back and forth and Adrian picking her up to get a better look at various things. 

It’s honestly the most relaxed she’s seen Adrian ever since the letter arrived from his dad and she knew it was mainly because he was able to focus on Claire, but she’d take it. She couldn’t help a laugh bubble up the moment Claire and Adrian found a tunnel to crawl through that puts you right underneath a waterfall. She couldn’t help but snap a picture of the two of them, identically large grins looking like they are in animal nerd heaven. 

“Do you guys have any pets at home?” Charles asked as the two watched Adrian and Claire count the amount of starfish in one tank. 

“God no. Even though Adrian’s schedule has gotten better I will not be the one who ends up taking care of a five year old and whatever pet those two wind up bringing home,” she said with a laugh and Charles nodded. 

“Growing up Adrian always brought home every stray animal he could find. Even animals that aren’t stray, one time he tried to bring home a chipmunk.” 

“Oh my god, yeah I could see that,” she said, covering her mouth as she laughed, watching the two of them. “Did…was he happy as a kid?” she asked softly, almost shyly like she didn’t want to know the true answer. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him flinch. 

“It’s not that answer you’re looking for, but I don’t know,” he murmured and she closed her eyes and sighed. 

“He’s a good man,” she said, her body feeling tense as she watched Adrian beam at Claire as she must’ve said a correct fact about some animal as he gave her a high five. “A really good dad and an amazing husband.” 

“I can see,” he said, voice sounding small. Her brain is still circling around the idea of young Adrian all on his own navigating everything, clearly needing help and just not wanting to be on his own but having no choice. No one to turn to. She always understood when she first met Adrian that something was going on in his life, there was a misconnection or some kind of fundamental lack in his life. The way he clung to Chris when they first met like he was the only person who could really know Adrian. It hadn’t taken her long to break through his shell once he realized she wasn’t kicking him around or had any plans to be mean to him. Adrian still looked at her like he did in those early days, just with pure love and joy wanting nothing more to make her happy even if it came at his own expense. 

It took time and work to get him to start doing stuff for himself. It took even more unpacking to realize that he was scared if he didn’t do what she wanted she would leave. 

And he was willing to sacrifice everything that made him happy for her to stay. 

“He did it on his own and he deserved better,” she said before wiping away a few tears before standing up to join Adrian and Claire. Adrian tilted his head as he looked at her, an unspoken question on his face as she shook her head but pulled him in for a quick kiss. “Lunch?” she asked gently. 

“Yeah, let’s get lunch,” Adrian said in a low voice, eyes still on her with worry. “You okay?” 

“I’m okay, baby. I think I'm just hungry,” she said. 

“Then let’s get you some food!” Adrian said happy to solve any problem she brought to him. She couldn’t help the extra twinge in her heart from his eagerness to make sure she was happy. 

The rest of the visit Charles kept his distance, respecting that she had gotten upset with him, and even though she knew she should talk to him and include him she had a hard time separating her attention from Claire and Adrian. In all her worry about Adrian and how he was handling things she neglected her own feelings. Adrian was her person, her guy, her soulmate. Of course it was going to hurt for her too. 

Adrian definitely picked up on her weird mood shift and the rest of the trip holding her hand and frequently checking on her. And each time she gave him a small smile and gentle reassurances that yes she was okay. However she was happy once they finally reached the last exhibit of the day and made their way slowly but surely to the gift shop. 

The gift shop came with an added challenge. 

As expected from an amazing aquarium the gift shop was loaded, leaving Claire running from aisle to aisle with all three grown ups trying to play catch up and help her decide. 

“Claire, how about a stuffed animal and a book?” she tried. 

“But did you see the pencil case?” Claire immediately said back, eyes wide at all the options. She spared a glance at Adrian. 

“Claire, honey we got five minutes and then we gotta pick and if you can’t pick daddy will pick for you, okay?” Adrian said, his tone barely stern but for Adrian to Claire, she’d take it. Claire pouted but picked up a sea otter plushie (one she felt she could’ve picked out the moment they walked in and saved them twenty minutes) and the pencil case that was covered in different marine animals. 

The moment they strapped Claire into her seat she passed out in the car, causing both Adrian and her to share sleepy smiles as they looked at each other. Sharing an almost knowing smile as she kissed his cheek. 

“Do you want the front seat this time?” She murmured and she watched him as thought about it before nodding. He opened her door and helped her into the backseat with Claire as Adrian took the front with his dad. 

The day had finally caught up with her and it didn’t take much for her to fall asleep, the gentle hum of the car and foggy view encouraging her to close her eyes. She was somewhat aware of the fact that Adrian was speaking to his dad in a low voice. 

She woke up at least three hours later in the bed at Adrian’s dad’s house. Claire passed out beside her tucked in on the side Adrian had been sleeping in. She stretched and checked the time. Claire would probably wake up hungry soon, but in the meantime she gently made her way downstairs, finding Adrian sitting on the floor alone on his switch. She smiled as she slid down the wall next to him, placing her head on his shoulder as she watched him play his game. He spared a single second of attention to place a kiss on her forehead. 

“Did you carry me upstairs?” she murmured. 

“Duh,” he said softly. “My dad’s ancient, you think he carried you?” 

“Alright, meanie,” she huffed out. “How was the drive back?” 

“Fine,” he said and she sighed. 

“Are you going to make me pry everything out of you?” Adrian sighed and paused his games. He leaned his head back and it thumped against the wall. 

“It was fine, we just did small talk and then listened to music.”

“What kind of small talk?” 

“Like how we met, me proposing, stuff about Claire, our relationship with my mom, if we want more kids,” he listed off and she slapped his arm playfully. 

“That’s not small talk!” 

“I don’t know. He just asked questions and I answered them!” he said and she pulled back, hand on his shoulder as she moved to look at him. A smile on her lips. 

“I’m proud of you,” she said and Adrian rolled his eyes but there was a small smile playing on his lips. 

“Well I can talk about you and Claire all day, that’s fine; it’s my favorite subject.” 

“Trust me I know, I’ve seen the photo albums on your phone. Albums plural,” she insisted and he let out a sharp laugh, one that was infectious. 

“I love you two, you’re my world.”

“You’re mine too,” she said, leaning to place a gentle kiss on his lips. One that Adrian eagerly accepted and pulled her closer to him. “What did you say to if we wanted more kids?” 

“That I’m working on getting you to say yes,” giving her a small peck as she laughed. 

“Absolutely ridiculous,” she teased, rolling her eyes. 

A gentle throat clear, took both of her and Adrian’s eyes off of each other and to his dad who was smiling down at them. He was leaning against the wall, looking at them like he had caught a couple of teenagers, but both of them were too old and too in love to even care about being caught.

“If you two wanted, I could watch Claire tomorrow night so you guys could have a date night or even tonight if you’d like,” Charles offered the two and she immediately smiled, accidentally ignoring Adrian’s tension. 

“No, that’s okay,” Adrian said immediately and she snapped to look at him, brow furrowed as he pretended to be more interested in the carpet. 

“Adrian, we haven’t gone on a real date in years. Your dad can handle Claire for an evening,” she said. 

“We can go on a date whenever we want, John could watch her!” 

“John Economos? You think John is equipped to watch Claire? John can barely watch Eagley!” 

“Okay, then Chris!” 

“Sorry, are you purposefully picking the worst people to watch our daughter?” She joked and Adrian tensed. 

“My friends are not the worst people to watch our daughter,” he said, sounding frustrated. She sighed.

“Adrian, I didn’t mean it like that, but come on. They feed an eagle lunch meat, I don’t necessarily expect them to be able to take care of Claire with no issues,” Adrian’s eyes snapped to her face. “We’ll talk about it, maybe tomorrow for an early dinner so that way we can put her to bed.” 

She said and Charles smiled, clearly happy with the possibility of them saying yes. 

“I hate when we do early dinner, then we have to get a sweet treat,” Adrian whined. 

“Yeah, but we can get dinner and then come back and take Claire to dessert. Win win!” She said and she watched Adrian roll his head in a circle, grimacing as he thought about it. 

“Okay,” he said and his eyes snapped to his dads. “We’ll only be gone for a little while, like three hours tops.” 

“Four,” she said, kicking him slightly. Eyes wide and bottom lip pouted out. “We can get dinner and take a nice walk.” 

“Four hours,” Adrian conceded and she smiled at him. “But let’s take Claire to the park first tomorrow, I don’t want her to get all bummed we’re hanging out without her.” 

“It’s not hanging out without her Ade, but alright we can do that.” She said and she looked up at Charles. “Want to come with us to the park tomorrow?” 

“That sounds great,” he said. “I guess I’ll leave you to it.” 

She giggled as Charles awkwardly left the room, only for Adrian to immediately tackle her, still careful that she didn’t hit the carpet too hard. He was quick to land his lips on hers, holding his body above hers. She chuckled slightly as they continued making out, Adrian smiling against her lips. 

“You’re not getting lucky on a living room floor,” she teased and Adrian laughed, the sound music to her ears and caused her own lips to twitch even further up. 

“I don’t need to get lucky, I already am,” he murmured as he kissed her underneath her chin and she laughed. He lifted himself further up so he could look at her, green eyes wide behind his glasses that were starting to slip off his nose. Adrian had used that line on her at least a hundred times, but every time there was a force to his tone that told her that he truly fully believed that. That he was the lucky one and not her. 

“Do you remember our first dinner at your moms house?” she murmured, pushing his curls behind his ear only for them to spring right back to where they were before. He chuckled as he rolled his eyes. 

“Yeah, when she spoiled that I was going to propose to you in the first ten minutes of meeting her,” he said and she laughed. 

“I already knew, you weren’t exactly subtle.” 

“That wasn’t the point,” Adrian whined and she laughed, leaning up to give him a peck on the lips. 

“You just hate that she technically beat you to it, but Ade I wouldn’t change a single aspect of our life together. None of it,” she said gently and he smiled. 

“I wouldn’t either, every moment led me to you and I still can’t believe I have you,” he said, pausing for a moment. “Come on, let’s get some food and take it upstairs for Claire.” 

She nodded as Adrian slowly got up, holding out both his hands to help her up. Once she was up she paused before wrapping her arms around her husband. He was quick to sweep her up. 

The rest of the evening passed in quiet, small noises throughout the house but everyone was so dead from the aquarium. Claire barely ate anything for dinner, but she was glad she ate something and was willing to take a bath, before passing out for the rest of the evening. 

“The park and then dinner tomorrow?” she said softly as she laid down in the bed. Adrian was still puttering around the room, picking different things up just to sit them back down. 

“Yeah, sounds good to me,” he murmured before finally making his way to the bed. “Do you think Claire’s having a good time?” 

“Yeah, baby. I do.” 

Adrian left it at that, not poking anymore as he sighed, pulling her closer into him. She couldn’t force herself to stay awake any longer, despite her nap earlier in the day she was still exhausted and wanted to take advantage of the quiet as much as she could, knowing that Claire was still going to wake up super early and ready to go. So she gave in, letting Adrian’s soft breath in her ear lull her to sleep. 

The following day Charles had made breakfast again and she had helped him pack a small picnic for them all for the park. It had been his idea, figuring keeping Claire outside and running around will make things easier for her and Adrian to sneak out for their date night. 

“You guys are really cute together,” he said while she was packing a few different types of chips for everyone and making sure Charles had the kind of mustard Adrian liked for his sandwich. 

“Me and Ade?” she asked, brows furrowing as she turned towards the man. He was smiling at her, hands pausing over the desserts he was packing, some sweets from a local bakery he had raved about the day before. 

“Yeah, I mean. You don’t see too many married couples still so in love like you guys are. Makes me happy that he found you,” he said and she felt her lips twitch as she leaned against the counter.

“Yeah, we're both lucky to have each other,” she murmured, looking down as she smiled. “What’s it like meeting us?” she asked, head tilting. 

“It’s…nice. Gut’s come to visit a few times, but it’s normally when he’s just down on his luck. I can’t even put into words how nice it is to see Adrian and not only knowing he’s doing well, but also to see it with my own eyes.” 

“I can’t imagine what it’s all been like,” she said gently and he shrugged.

“I made a lot of bad choices and a lot of good choices. It’s led me here and I wish I could change some things but I can’t. I have to live with my choices.” 

“Well, even if Adrian won’t say it I am glad you reached out. He never would’ve done that on his own,” she said and Charles nodded.

“I’m glad you answered,” he said and silence fell between the two of them as they returned to packing up for the picnic. After a few minutes Adrian and Claire came barrelling into the kitchen, Claire giggling as Adrian chased her. 

“Ready?” He asked, pecking her forehead. 

“I am,” she said, patting the cooler and Adrian smiled as he grabbed it. “Hey, I can get it.”

“Nah, I got it. Dad, are you ready?” he asked. 

“Of course! What about you Claire?”

“For the park?” she asked, looking up. 

“Yes, baby,” she said and Claire smiled. 

“I was born ready!” she declared and they all laughed. Adrian picked Claire up and set her on his shoulders while she giggled. Little hands pulling sharply at his hair, but as always Adrian didn’t complain.  

The four of them walked slowly towards the park, Claire not lasting long on Adrian’s shoulders before she wanted to walk on her own. Claire bouncing back and forth between whose hand she was holding. She yapped the whole way, asking questions about the park, and how it’ll compare to the one back in Evergreen that they frequent. She felt lucky it wasn’t a long walk, since she was unsure how to keep answering Claire’s questions that she didn’t have the answer to. 

Once they got to the park, Adrian reminded Claire of the rules of staying where the adults could see her and being kind to the other kids. The moment Adrian said the last rule Claire gave them all a salute before she bounded off laughing towards the playground. She stood between the two men as she watched Claire run around the park, smiling as she clearly had no trouble making new friends. She turned to Adrian who had his eyes on the parking lot, watching everyone who walked up. She smiled as she noticed Charles doing the same thing but with everyone sitting on the bench. 

She elbowed Adrian gently and his eyes snapped towards her as she tilted her head towards his dad who was doing the same thing he was doing. The expression on his face was hard to read, it wasn’t as guarded as he had been the whole week, but there was still something unsure in it. 

“What are you doing?” Adrian asked him, leaning forward as his dad's eyes snapped to him. The older man chuckled. 

“Oh, old habits die hard, I guess,” he said, gesturing to all the people at the park. “Your mom would give me a hard time whenever we took you boys to the park because I’d watch the people more than I’d watch you guys, but you can never be too careful.” 

She watched Adrian’s face carefully, there’s something there that she can’t help but smile at. 

“Sounds like someone I know,” she said, knocking into her husband since he didn’t seem like he was going to say anything to his dad. 

“I’m going to go play with Claire,” he muttered as he walked away from the two, she frowned but didn’t say anything as he walked off. 

“Here let’s go sit, he’s got this,” she said, gesturing towards an open bench that still gave them a decent enough line of sight to everything happening around the playground. 

“He’s…really good at this,” Charles said, gesturing towards Adrian and Claire as they played, the two focused intently on skipping from raised lilly pad to lilly pad as they made their way towards the top of the jungle gym. She couldn’t fight the smile that came across her features. 

“At balancing?” She asked, brows furrowed as she turned to the older man who let out a chuckle. 

“No, I mean, at being a dad,” he said softly and she hummed, her eyes locked on the back of Adrian’s head no more than twenty feet away from them. 

“Can I tell you a secret?” She said low enough Adrian wouldn’t overhear them as his dad nodded. “He took to it so well that I thought something was wrong with me. Like don’t get me wrong, I love my daughter with my entire heart. I would do anything to make sure she’s safe, but every moment still felt…suffocating. Especially right after we had her, I mean there’s so much you can just fuck up, but not to Adrian. He just looks at her and knows what she needs. He’s known since she was born. He’s known what she needs just from the smallest babble, a quiver of the lips, just anything. He’s freakishly in tune with her.” 

“It’s impressive…I mean I wasn’t…you have to understand there was a lot going on in general. Especially internally and me and Adrian just had nothing in common,” she nodded. 

“Adrian just doesn’t know how to half ass anything in his personal life,” she said with a shrug. “He still struggles some days. He gets frustrated when things don’t make sense in his mind, but he’s gotten better at trying and growing. It’s all you can ask for most days,” she said gently and his dad nodded. 

“I’m proud of him,” he said. “But I’m not sure if he wants to hear that from me.”

“Tell him anyway, I’ll talk to him about it.” 

“Daddy, do you need a hug or some deep breaths?” She heard Claire’s voice from across the playground and she immediately locked in on the two. Adrian was standing near the middle of the jungle gym, his eyes were locked on them, but the expression on his face made it so she wasn’t fully sure he was actually seeing them. Claire’s hand tugging at his shirt, begging for his attention, she starts to get up to check in on them, but her movement seemed to snap him out of zone out as he turned back to Claire. He moved to start chasing her as the young girl screamed and continued climbing up the jungle gym. 

“Is he okay?” Charles asked and she looked over at him. 

“Yeah, he’s okay.”

The rest of the time passed in a comfortable silence with her and Charles watching Adrian and Claire play. Occasionally letting out a chuckle as the two did something funny or a small comment when a thought popped up in either of their heads, but for the most part it was just a calm afternoon and once Claire was hungry the four of them found a shaded spot to sit and eat. Adrian sat close enough to her that she leaned on him and then once they were done eating she laid in his lap while Charles pushed Claire on the swings. His hands were playing with her hair. 

“What were you guys talking about earlier?” he asked, voice low. 

“You,” she answered honestly, adjusting so she was on her back and looking up at Adrian. She watched him purse his lips, his eyes staying locked on Claire. “I was talking about how great of a dad you are, how you took to Claire quicker than I did.” 

“Baby, postpartum depression is really serious. We’ve talked about it, you don’t have to feel bad, it’s okay. We got you the help you needed and everything was okay.” 

“No,” she said laughing slightly despite herself. “I just mean like when we first came home from the hospital you were immediately in tune with her. Waking up slightly before she needed anything and you were just…so happy to help, never seeming too tired. Even now, you’re quick to know what she wants or you know exactly what to say to get her to stop pouting before dinner.” 

“Oh,” he said gently. 

“Yeah, you’re a good dad, baby.” 

“I love you,” he said gently, finally looking down at her with nothing but love in his eyes and she smiled. 

“I love you more,” she said and he laughed, shaking his head. 

“Absolutely impossible, my heart-”

“My heart beats for you too, you know,” she whispered. Throwing the words Adrian frequently said to her back at him. 

The rest of the time at the park passed without any big incident, Adrian stayed calm and enjoyed just sitting with her watching Claire. After another hour the four of them packed up and headed back to the house where her and Adrian got ready for their date. 

She opted for a simple summer dress she had packed and Adrian was in khakis and one of his better fitting polos. Charles had offered them to borrow his car, but Adrian insisted on leaving it in case they needed it to go to the hospital. Adrian also ran through every emergency number for his dad to call if something happened. His phone, her phone, and their friends back home. When she pointed out she wasn’t sure what they could do being so far, Adrian just gave her a pained look that made her nod and let him keep going. 

Once she actually got Adrian to leave the house, the dinner was really nice. They had walked hand and hand for about 25 minutes before arriving at one of the few restaurants open early enough for them to have dinner. She smiled as they made easy conversation and finally got seated, Adrian pulled out her chair for her. 

“Ugh, I’m so excited,” she said as she looked over the menu, everything looking so good. 

“We’ve been to dinner since we’ve had Claire. Multiple times, you’re acting like I never take you out,” Adrian said, complaining, but there was still a smile playing on his lips. 

“Yeah, but we’re on vacation! We’re in a new city and it’s just us. It’s nice,” she said and he nodded, looking at her with a smile on his lips as he leaned forward just a tad. 

“It is nice,” he repeated. They both placed their orders and she watched Adrian fidget slightly with his glass of water. 

“Ade, can I guess a question you’re going to hate?” she asked and he nodded, eyes flickering away from hers. “What was it like when he left?” her voice was soft but it didn’t stop the look of being struck that crossed his face. 

“Why?” 

“I just…I know this week’s been hard for you and I know how reluctant you were for us to even come in the first place. I just…want the missing puzzle piece,” she finished, voice soft as she grabbed his hand from across the table, he immediately intertwined their fingers together and gripped her tightly. 

“When my dad left, things just…got worse overall. It’s not like he nor my mom really stopped Gut growing up. With my healing factor…I was just the boy who cried wolf so it didn’t really change too much when he left, but it clearly affected Gut because he just got…worse, meaner. He pushed limits and just seemed to make it his life mission to make my life hell,” Adrian said before taking a sip of water. “And I hated them all so much growing up. I always thought ‘why me,’ like what did I do that made me so…hateable so hurtable. It just became easier to shut myself off from all of them, pretending their relationship to me didn’t matter because no matter what it was going to hurt, but at least this way I got to pick how it hurt.” 

“Oh, Ade.” 

“And I don’t regret it. Without Gut torturing me, I might not have become Vigilante and if I hadn't become Vigilante I wouldn’t have met Chris or you and who knows what my life would be. Probably awful, still bussing tables and living in my moms basement with no plans or a life. I think for a long time I was angry at him for leaving me in that house like he just didn’t care. And I get it, I get he’s sorry and I get why he wanted to meet you and Claire, but I think there’s still this part of me that sees that’s what he wants and wants to deny it because it’s mine. It’s something I built and found and have loved and cherished. Not him, he shouldn’t get it just because I’m his son.” 

“That’s not what’s happening. It’s not just getting this because you’re his son. You built this and you are making a very mature decision to share this. You’re being the bigger person in allowing him to see this and to show him what you built despite everything that happened growing up.”

“Yeah, well I hate it,” he mumbled, leaning back in his chair, eyes on the ceiling and she laughed. 

“I couldn’t tell,” she teased.

“Hey!” 

“Ade, it’s fine! You’re allowed to not like this too! You can be angry or as upset as you want with him. They’re your feelings. I’m not trying to make you feel one way or the other.” 

“I know, I just…I’m ready to be home. I miss our bed, I miss work.” 

“Do you think you’ll want to come visit again?” She asked, head tilting as he seemed to ponder it. 

“Not fully for it, but not fully against it.” 

“Once your mom hears we came out she’s going to beg us to come over again you know that right?” 

“Jesus fuck, don’t remind me. It’s going to be impossible, the moment we land we’ll be lucky if she’s not outside our door already with cookies,” he complained and she laughed. 

“Well, it’s not like Gut is going to be bringing around any grandbabies anytime soon,” she said as the waiter sat down their appetizer. Adrian grabbed his fork and snickered. 

“At least not a legitimate one,” he joked and she snorted. 

“Hey, you can’t judgemental like that. We had a close call before we got married,” she warned and Adrian smiled. 

“Yeah, but that’s different, we always knew we’d get married. Gut’s going to be lucky if a girl gives him the time of day for longer than to just put his dick in her.”

“I’ll give you that one,” she said after a pause and Adrian smiled at her, digging in. “Our next trip as a family, maybe we see if Chris and the others want to go somewhere,” she suggested casually as Adrian smiled. 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I bet they’d be down for a resort somewhere and Claire would have a blast with all her aunts and uncles.” 

“Oh my god, we can take a cruise!” Adrian said, slapping the table and she grimaced and shook her head. 

“Tempting since Claire would be confined to a ship, but I fear if we took Chris onto international waters we might just be asking for trouble,” she said and Adrian pouted. “We’ll figure something out. Let’s survive these last few days and then we’ll start making plans." 

“Barely a few days, tomorrow night fireworks and then we leave in the afternoon the following day,” Adrian said looking excited.

“Still, let’s wait to plan our next trip till we get back,” she said and Adrian smiled and nodded. The rest of the evening passed with just the two of them talking back and forth, the conversation staying much lighter after Adrian’s confession. She knew, just from knowing her husband, that just because he’s admitting to some of what was bothering him about the trip didn’t mean it was all solved. Adrian had a habit of holding onto things, she was just glad that he had voiced something, clearly up a fraction of what he must be feeling every time they walked back into his dad’s house. 

Throughout dinner she debated circling back and telling Adrian about the conversation she had with him at the aquarium, how upset she got on his behalf, but by the time dessert comes out she decided it was best to just leave it, knowing Adrian would eventually ask her once they were home. 

When they got back to the house, they walked into complete silence and she felt the way Adrian squeezed her hand nervously. She continued to lead them into the house, only to find Claire passed out on the couch and his dad sitting in an armchair continuing to watch Bluey as if Claire was still paying attention. 

“She fell asleep maybe twenty minutes ago. I didn’t know if you wanted me to keep her awake to take her for dessert or what,” he said gently and she smiled. 

“We had dessert at the restaurant, we’ll just put her to bed and get her something special tomorrow so she’ll forgive us,” she said and Adrian smiled as he picked her up. The young girl’s head rolling on his shoulder as her eye lashes fluttered slightly. He walked past her and gave her a kiss on the cheek before carrying Claire to the room. 

“Did you guys have a nice date?” Charles asked, getting up and stretching from his chair. 

“It was really nice, thank you for watching her.” 

“Of course, it’ll be weird to go back to a quiet house. Don’t get me wrong, me and William love the quiet but it’s been really nice having you guys here,” he said softly and she smiled. 

“Your home is beautiful but I fear if Claire is here any longer she will destroy it. You should see her room back home, we’re going to have to repaint it and recarpet it whenever we decide to move,” she said as Adrian came back downstairs. His arms wrapped around her middle as he laid his head on her shoulder. 

“Well, that’s easy we’re not moving,”

“Okay, Ade. We’re not doing this conversation again,” she said, patting his arms and rolling her eyes. “This is a common fight-”

“Debate,” Adrian corrected gently. 

“That I think we should move and Adrian thinks we should just remodel the house, but we need a bigger space as Claire grows and-”

“Which we can get by remodeling, we have an acre in our backyard and we can expand,” Adrian complained. She looked over at Charles and shrugged. He sat back down and put a hand on his chin. 

“Why don’t you want to remodel?” he asked her, she pulled out of Adrian’s grip as she moved to sit on the couch. Adrian followed her. 

“Well, it’s a lot of work and money-”

“Which we have plenty of,” Adrian reminded her. “Checkmate is doing great, we can spend a little to make the house more comfortable without risking too much. It’s not like Claire’s going to college tomorrow, there's time to make these changes while still being comfortable.” 

“And time to be out of the house or in a house with a bunch of construction,” she finished and Charles turned to Adrian. 

“Why don’t you want to move?” 

“It’s our house, I want us to live there forever. We moved in six months before we had Claire. It’s the only home she’s had, I think we should keep it that way.” 

“Well, Adrian, forever isn’t realistic,” his dad said gently so as to not upset Adrian. She could feel him tense beside her but he didn’t say anything. “But also, moving just because a few things are wrong doesn’t mean you should,” he said to her and she sagged a little, looking over at Adrian. 

“I do like our house,” she said, this time focusing more on Adrian who smiled. “I just worry that construction is going to take too long and be too much.”

“Well, you two don’t have to decide today or hell even tomorrow,” Charles said and Adrian nodded. 

“That’s what I say, we’ve got the time,” Adrian said and she fought the urge to say something about how there were two of them now, knowing that might set Adrian off. “Thanks for talking to us about it, but we should get to bed,” he said standing up and the moment Adrian’s eyes were off his dad she saw tears well slightly in his eyes before he wiped them away so Adrian wouldn’t see. She couldn’t help the smile at the realization that without a fight Adrian at least heard his dad out on one of their arguments, which felt like a much bigger win than if she were to convince him to finally start looking at new houses. 

The three adults said goodnight and slowly made their ways to their respective rooms. She smiled, pulled Adrian in for a kiss the moment their door was closed. 

“We can remodel the house,” she said gently against her lips, feeling him smile. “But not right when we get back, give it a few months and then we’ll start figuring it out, okay?” 

“Okay,” he said gently, smile almost blinding. 

“And if we’re remodeling I want a clawfoot tub!” She said and he laughed, she threw a hand over his mouth so he wouldn’t wake Claire up. 

“Deal,” he murmured against her hand. She smiled and kissed him one more time before the two finally made their way to bed. Relaxing together before sleep claimed them both. 

Most of the morning and afternoon was spent getting ready for the evening. The firework show they had picked was at a different park, one they had to drive to, but they were having a farmers market and food trucks there so at least they didn’t have to worry about dinner. Plus Claire wasn’t too happy when she woke up and realized she was cheated out of a dessert. Consider it was their last full day she was completely surprised by Adrian’s unusual chipperness.

They had gotten their blanket spread out for the firework show, Claire sitting between her and Chalres with Adrian on her other side. 

“Oh wait! Claire, I brought you these!” Charles said happily pulling out of his tote bag some industrial noise blocking headphones, one that reminded her of what one might find at a construction site. She smiled as Claire happily accepted them, her expression being more of ease the moment the sound cushions were over her little ears. It was almost a comical sight with how big they were, but she knew Claire was thankful for them, her attention back on the night sky waiting for the fireworks to start. 

The next part seemed to go in slow motion for her. One second she’s smiling looking at her happy daughter, the next she’s turning her head to make a comment to Adrian about it, but when she turned fully he’s not next to her right anymore. Instead he’s running away. 

“Watch her, Claire stay with grandpa,” she didn't wait for either of them to answer her as she chased off in the direction Adrian went. She was lucky that for the most part he didn’t seem to move very fast, not as fast as she knew he could go. She followed him all the way to the parking lot and she was glad he didn’t have the key because she wouldn’t be surprised if Adrian drove off if he did. 

He had done that once before, back before they first started dating, while Task Force X was still getting their grounding after saving the world from butterflies. She had figured out pretty early on that Adrian liked her, but she was still unsure of him and what she wanted. Chris had gotten into Adrian’s head about her and her expectations and he had become a mess every time they were around each other, clearly unsure if he should be himself or who Chris said he should be to earn her love. He had said one dumb thing after another, spiraling until he finally squeaked out a goodbye and physically ran away from her. 

At least this time she was able to catch up to him. 

“Adrian, you can’t just run off. The last thing we need is Claire getting…” she stopped dead in her tracks when she took him in, hand over his mouth as tears raced down his face. He was crouched on the ground, leaning against his dad’s car. “Ade?” 

“Just give me a minute,” he gasped out, shoeing her away with his hand as she shook her head and fell to her knees in front of him. 

“What’s happening, are you hurt?” she asked, checking him over. Hands flying over him as she tried to make sense of what was happening to him. 

“I’m okay,” he said, pushing her hands gently off of him. 

“What’s going on?” she asked again and she watched Adrian force himself to look up, bottom lip wobbling as he seemed to debate telling her the truth or not. 

“Claire, she just looks just like me,” he said, eyes squeezed shut. “And it’s hard to see him being so…fatherly to her. I mean, fuck baby she looks just like me, she has my personality, your genes didn’t even try!” She couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out as a few tears escaped her eyes at Adrian’s clear pain. 

“Yeah, she’s your spitting image,” she said and he let out a shaky sob. 

“Why wasn’t I good enough for him?” At those words she practically threw herself at her husband, wrapping him in her arms as a harsh cry left his lips. 

“Baby, no no no,” she murmured, pressing a kiss to his temple as his arms circled around her tightly. “That’s not what’s happening. He’s not suddenly being nice because he likes Claire more than you, he’s being nice to Claire because he feels bad about how he treated you as a kid. He’s trying so hard to make you see that he's changed and he cares and he’s doing that by showing you the way he thinks you’ll be the most comfortable with. He knows you don’t want to have a direct conversation, but baby he’s trying to make you see he loves and cares about you and he is sorry.” 

“But why wasn’t I enough?” He begged her, begging for an answer she simply didn’t have and she felt her own tears starting to fall. 

“I don’t know, baby, but it wasn’t fair to you at all and I’m sorry. But you deserve good things and you deserved a good dad who was there for you,” she whispered, holding his face between her hands, wiping his tears as quickly as they were falling. 

“It’s hard,” he murmured, calming down. 

“I know,” she said gently. “And it’s not fair either, but you’re doing such a good job. This time tomorrow we’ll be home and if you don’t want to talk to him ever again we can do that.” 

“But what about Claire she’s having a blast with him!” 

“Ade, we’ll figure it out and yeah she’s five but she’ll understand if that’s what you pick,” she said and he sighed, his body sagging against the car. “Come on, let’s buy Claire some cotton candy, okay?” She said and Adrian laughed, it was watery but at least he was starting to sound back to normal. 

“So she’ll be up all night?” 

“Yeah, we’ll make your dad watch her so we can get some rest before the flight tomorrow,” she joked back as she stood up and held out a hand for Adrian. He was quick to accept it and pull himself up but before she could start leading him back he quickly brought her in for a kiss. She smiled as one of her hands went to cup his cheek. 

“I love you,” she said and he smiled. 

“I love you too.” 

The two made their way towards the cotton candy stalls, Adrian clutching her hand tightly. 

“Stupid California, $12 for a bag of cotton candy,” Adrian mumbled as he pulled out his wallet, wiping his nose on the back of his hand as the stall clerk took his cash and looked at him with concern. She felt lucky that at least the clerk didn’t say anything. 

Once they made it back, Charles gave her a questioning look and she simply shook her head as Adrian handed Claire the cotton candy, making her squeal in joy. 

The rest of the night passes with silence from the group, even Claire, who’s attention is on the sky and slapping her dad’s hand away from stealing her cotton candy. They didn’t get back to the house till almost 1 in the morning, Claire passed out as Adrian carried her around the park and back into bed. Before passing out, she and Adrian made quick work of setting out Claire’s outfit for the flight back and packing up the majority of their stuff. 

“Ready to leave tomorrow?” she asked gently, eyes almost blurry with sleep as she finally pulled herself into the bed. Adrian followed behind her. 

“More than ready,” he murmured as they both fell asleep. 

Both unfortunately and fortunately Claire slept in longer than they were anticipating. Normally the young girl was up early no matter what time she went to bed, but the joy of the fireworks and sugar crash kept her sleeping till almost eleven in the morning. Which meant they were rushing to get to the airport and say their goodbyes. If Charles was disappointed with the lack of a last morning he was careful to not show it on his face which she appreciated, knowing Adrian probably wouldn’t react well to any comment from his dad about them ruining their last day. 

“Thank you for inviting us,” she said, hugging Charles once they made it to the airport. Adrian standing behind her. 

“Of course, don’t be a stranger. You guys are welcome back any time,” he said and she pulled away, looking up at Adrian as he sighed, but awkwardly gave his dad a hug. 

“Yeah, we’ll see,” Adrian mumbled. 

“Seriously, Adrian. I’m really proud of you,” his dad said, giving him one more squeeze of the shoulder and Adrian nodded. 

“Bye Grandpa!” Claire announced, interrupting the moment between the two men, but she can tell on Adrian’s expression that he’s thankful for it. 

“Bye Claire, it was very nice to meet you!” he said and she giggled. 

“Of course it was, I’m cool!” she said hands on her hips making both her parents laugh. 

“Claire, what do you say?” she pressed her daughter.

“It was nice to meet you too,” she grumbled and Charles laughed, giving Claire one last hug before the three of them started making their way through the airport and on their way home to Evergreen. 

The whole flight and ride home Adrian was quiet, this time she gave Claire the window seat so she could watch and play with the window shade as she rested her head on Adrian’s shoulder. Occasionally she could feel him turning and pressing a kiss to the top of her head as she squeezed her leg. The moment they got back into their home, Claire was quick to run to her room to check in on all of her toys. 

“I’m sorry for pushing you into this,” she murmured as she pulled him into a hug, the moment they were alone in their bedroom. She felt him sigh against her as he swayed them slightly. The hug felt familiar and comforting, as she let herself melt in his arms. 

“No, I…I think this was good. I’m glad he got to meet Claire and you got to meet him,” he sighed. “I’m not going to forgive him at least not fully, but I think sometimes I worry that because he was my example of a dad that maybe I would be a shitty father and-”

“Adrian you’re the best dad!” She said immediately pulling back and looking at his face with a pained expression on her face, but Adrian let out a small laugh. 

“No, I mean,” he looked down suddenly looking bashful. “I know I am a good dad and I think it was good for me to see him because now I’m positive I’m way better at this than he ever was. It’s so easy to love Claire and it hurts that…that I wasn’t for him, but that’s his loss.” 

“It is his loss, Ade,” she repeated and he smiled. 

“Yeah, it is,” he murmured. 

“Daddy! Are we going to play with my new art kit from Grandpa! You promised when we got home we’d use them!” Claire said, busting into their room. 

“Besides, I have the best family in the world right in front of me,” he said, pulling her in for a kiss just long enough for Claire to start making fake gagging sounds. 

But god, she wouldn’t change any part of her family for the world. 

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