#madd09

Of course it was nothing. Just Hope giving him thedeath stare, chilling around. So he just kind of run away from her, takingsteps to the kitchen were Hank was already finishing with his meds and smiledat him, drinking his water. “You okay, kid?” “Yeah, just…” should he say it? Should he tell Hank his daughter is an actualdemon? He probably knows this already, he is probably proud of it too. “Idon’t understand at all why Hope hates me so much”“Oh” he exclaims, leaving the empty cup to wash later, “don’t worry aboutit. She doesn’t hate you, she hates me and my decisions. Which is obvious and Iagree with her. But, honestly? I would never put her in danger, not while I cando something about it. Don’t get me wrong, Scott…-”“I understand-”“No” he says, then he smiles again, there’s something fraternal about it and Itisn’t uncomfortable as it should be, right? Right, “I do care about you.But she’s everything I have, even when she isn’t exactly on my team. But it’sokay. If Jan… If my wife were here, things would be different. Good lord,things would be so different…”

He loved her in an almost fantastic way, Scott wasamazed by this.

Not because he thought this man was too weird to loveor to be loved, but because this was something that wasn’t as common as the TVsays. This man has been alone for almost 30 years, no girlfriends or secondmarriage, nothing. Just waiting for his turn to see his wife again, to keep onliving until it’s time. He could live easily another 30 years more if hewanted. Even with his mental thing (he didn’t talk much about it and Scott didnot wanted to ask. This was something he shouldn’t be putting his nose in), hewas healthy and he was strong. In fact, Scott was sure Hank could punch him inthe face and make him bleed easily. His dorky sweaters wasn’t exactly some kindof ‘old man fashion’, they were more like a surprise factor of ‘oldman without fashion sense who can kill you with his bare hands’. His daughterwas like that too, she could kill him or anyone with just her hands.

“Would any of you, and by that I mean Lang, help mewith this?”, she says passing them by, carrying bags of papers they deputedearly that day in order to make sense in Hank’s lab. “Yeah, sorry…”

Hank smiled at him once more, then he leave thekitchen saying his goodnight and they were alone again. Good lord. She didn’tsay a thing, just a weak ‘goodnight’ that he was sure he wasn’t supposed tohear, so he just went to the lab again, taking the two last bags and walkingout the house with them. Hope was sit on the ground, her hands on her shouldersas if she wanted to protect herself, so Scott left the bags and walked to her.

“Are you okay there?” “I don’t hate him”

Ugh. This was awkward. Scott sit by her side, the moonshining in the sky and the night call making its thing with the silent.

“You hear that?” “A lot of other things too” “Maybe… Well. I don’t know. This isn’t something I should be putting my ass in,isn’t it? You and your dad…” “You remind him of him before he met mom. I think that’s why he chose you” “Oh. That makes sense” “He was…”, she started with her eyes firm on her shoes. “He was so tall…” Scottstayed quiet, knowing she needed this and maybe he needed it too. “Mom was sotiny, her feets were so small, he could take both in his hands and then kissthem. Mom and I used to sleep with him in the couch during winter, he was big,big, with big arms and a big chest, I loved when he used to hug me. And my momloved it too, there is a lot of pictures of them hugging. I always wanted to belike her so I can have someone like my dad” “He was your hero” She smiled in a melancholic way. “I always knew he was a hero, I was raised bytwo heroes. Mom always told me stories about dad being some kind of awesomeagent and I loved to hear her. I guess, in a way, the reason why I adored mydad was because my mom adored him first. For me, it was normal to love someonewith so many problems like him… but then, all of it was gone. Mom was dead andhe never came back from it, he spend entire nights on his laboratory and then,then… he was just gone. It was like if I lost both my parents. And when helooked at me he just broke more inside, that’s why I think he let me go,because I look like her and he couldn’t… She was the best that ever happened tohim. Auntie Pegg– an aunt. She told me. About my dad before he met my mother”,she looked at him, Scott has been looking right at her face all this time. “Helost his first wife because someone wanted to steal his investigation. And hefelt so bad about his feelings for my mom because he used to work for my granddad,and she was… so young. He was 25 and she was 17, but she always went towardshim, always looking at him and talking to him, she did too. She did love himsince day one too. And I— do I love my father after all of this?”“I don’t think—““I never stopped”, she say in a weak line. “I never stopped”.

Scott smiled at her, cleaning her tears and puttinghis hand over her shoulder. It was fascinated the way she could feel everythingand yet not be broken. If he was in her place, he would have been nuts sincethe beginning. And yet, sometimes she still felt lost and over the edge, likeright now. To this day, he doesn’t know why, but he leaned into her face, lookingat those intense eyes and her pretty mouth; he saw her parting her lips,leaning into him and kissing him first, slowly and almost shy, sweet wherethere were insults for him before.

Is a nice kiss, the best one he has had since hiswedding day and she bit his bottom lip, laughing when he licked at it, thenkissed her again. After almost an entire minute, they parted, looking at eachother with smiles on their faces and no more words and punches to share.

“You still want that?” he asked in a mumble. “What?” “Someone who loves you the same way Hank loves your mom”

Silence. And then, she mouthed a ‘yes’ before kissinghim once more.

“But don’t tell anyone”, she say after leave him witha word on his lips, walking to the house again. “Goodnight, Scott. See youtomorrow”.