Chapter Text
The rest of May was spent overseas for Chris and the rest of Hound Wolf Squad. And much to their dismay, they found something. A lot of something, actually. At least three different labs, all connected and working with different samples of mold from Louisiana. All this to say, he was going to continue to be busy for some time. Missions had been slow and rather unintrusive for the last year or so. He knew it wouldn't last forever, but at the same time, part of him almost hoped it would.
Similar to how it was before, Chris made his way home late at night. The tired man got out of his car and clicked a button on the wall of the garage to close it before taking out his phone to check it.
Wednesday, June 1st, 10:22 PM.
Hopefully, Rose was behaving and in bed by now. With that thought, he put his phone away and quietly headed inside to find Emma sitting on the couch with her laptop.
"Hm? Oh hey, I thought I heard the garage door," Emma said with a smile as she got up. "Are you hungry?"
A mixture of happiness and regret washed over him as he noticed she was showing more than before. " I could eat," he replied. He didn't need to share the bad news just yet. Instead, he walked over to her and held her before giving her a kiss. "How are the two of you doing?"
Emma returned the kiss and stayed put to enjoy the sense of closeness rather than hurrying off to their usual routine. "Well and healthy, though the little parasite keeps kicking me in the bladder. I'm starting to think they think it's a game."
Chris laughed at that before allowing a hand to rest along the side of her stomach. "Behave for your mother," he said with a gentle smile.
"I'll settle for a warning so I can brace myself," Emma replied with a chuckle. "It won't be too much longer before we find out what we're having."
"Next month, right?" Chris asked to make sure he was remembering correctly.
"Yep," Emma replied with a smile. "Let's head over to the kitchen, though, so I can start cooking while we talk." She knew it was late, and he'd likely want to get some rest.
Chris followed her lead and took his place at the kitchen Island. The location was different, but the routine remained the same. Emma placed a glass of water in front of him before digging around in the fridge.
"How was your trip?" Emma asked with a gentle smile.
"It was work," Chris replied with a quiet sigh. Probably best to bring this up now. "We got a few leads... I'll probably be touch and go for a while."
Emma tried not to frown and nodded. "Work is work. Just make sure you come back in one piece, okay?"
Chris nodded. "Hopefully, we can wrap this up quickly."
"Take the time, do it right. We'll be here," Emma said as she got started putting together a meal. Breakfast sounded good.
"That's the goal." A small twitch of a smile returned. Okay, now to rip off the band-aid. "I'll be heading back out again on the 8th..."
"So soo—" Emma paused as it clicked. "Oh no... Bastion's wedding." She tried to force a neutral expression.
"Yeah," Chris replied, not thrilled either. He was going to miss it. "Take a lot of pictures, okay?"
"Of course," Emma agreed as she turned her attention back to the pancake mix she was supposed to be stirring. "Before you head out again, do you think you can make time to teach Rose how to ride a bike?"
"Right, yeah, I can do that," he agreed and nodded. He'd almost forgotten. "Tomorrow after work," he added. The sooner he took care of that, the less likely he'd be to forget.
With the pancake mix made, Emma put out two pans and buttered them to grease the inside. The two continued to talk as she managed one pan of scrambled eggs and another with pancakes. Before long two plates were set on the kitchen island. Chris looked over at the extra plate that held a regular pancake and a much smaller mini pancake.
"Did you run out of batter?" he asked curiously as he gestured to her plate.
"Nope," Emma replied, smiling. "That one's for me, and that one's for the parasite." She gestured to the regular pancake, then the smaller one.
"You know eating this late at night will make you sick in the morning," Chris pointed out, trying not to laugh, before digging into his own plate of food.
Emma did the same and started to eat her meal for two. "It's worth it."
It wasn't.
'*'*'*'*'
[Chris] How do you think we should bring up the whole bike thing anyway?
[Emma] I could set the bike up by the front door? It has a kickstand, so it will stand up properly.
[Emma] You could point it out when you pull in to park if she doesn't see it first.
[Chris] That could work.
Chris looked from his phone to his laptop. How to teach your child to ride a bike in 45 minutes, the laptop screen read in large bold font above a picture of children on bicycles. Chris was in his office again the next day when he realized he didn't remember a thing about how he learned to ride a bike. It could be due to the multiple concussions or something related to his last round of PTSD-induced amnesia, but for the life of him, that memory was gone. Normally, he was against distractions like this at work, but he needed to figure out how to teach this before he got home.
Hopefully, they mean the process is 45 minutes, not that the article takes 45 minutes to read, Chris thought with a quiet sigh before taking a bite of his lunch. Luckily, eating in his office like this would minimize distractions, but it still felt weird using company property like this.
How long will it take to teach your child to cycle? Roughly 45 minutes depending on the child's coordination development.
Okay, cool off to a good start. That hopefully meant he wouldn't be reading for 45 minutes.
At what age should you teach a child to cycle? Four to six years old.
Awesome, still doing good there... Kind of. Rose was almost two technically, but at this point, she was biologically closer to a five-and-a-half-year-old, according to the latest update from the doctors.
How should you start to teach a child to cycle? Without pedals.
What? Chris looked at that one with concern and confusion. The article further stated that the parent should remove the pedals of the bike, so the child could push the bike along with their feet at first and learn how to balance... Okay, so some assembly required. Hopefully they had the right kind of screwdriver.
Where should you teach your child to ride a bike? On a flat tarmac surface. Avoid grass it seems softer, but it's harder to pedal on and will quickly become frustrating.
Tarmac? Wouldn't grass be—oh... Well, fine then. Note to self: have bandages ready. Make sure the helmet is very well secured. We remembered to get a helmet, right? Chris thought as he continued to eat while reading.
Important tips: Hold the child, not the bike. If you hold the bike, you're more likely to fight them for control, and they won't learn. Once they're safely doing well on their own, stay nearby. Don't let them go off on their own until they're good at stopping.
Okay, so how do you teach them how to stop? Chris thought as he scrolled down and found that was the end of the article. That's it? How do you teach them how to stop?! Don't just say that's important and not mention how to do that. Chris pinched the brow of his nose and exhaled. This was going to take some work...
The rest of his lunch break was spent looking through different but similar articles, and after an hour of reading, he did not feel any more confident that he'd know how to do this. But whether he liked it or not, the end of the day quickly arrived.
Rose walked out of the training area feeling tired and achy. She usually felt that way, but today it was a bit worse than normal. She was ready to be led to the gym only to be surprised when she found Chris waiting for her outside.
"Hey kiddo, ready to go home?" Chris asked.
"Yeah," Rose replied, following him. They two made their way out of the headquarters and through the parking lot to Chris's car.
"So, what did you do today?" he asked after they were both in the car since she wasn't particularly talkative.
"Tests," she replied in return. "And I worked on my letters and numbers."
"Are you practicing counting?" Chris asked, and Rose nodded. "How far can you count?"
"I can count to twelve," Rose said with some pride in her tone.
Why twelve? All right. "Nice job. Do you want to show me?"
"Okay," Rose replied and counted. The rest of the ride home continued similarly where he'd have to coax her to speak. She just wasn't interested in talking to him like she used to. However, as they pulled into the park, Rose pressed her face against the window to try to see better. "What's that?" she asked when her view was blocked as they pulled into the garage.
"What’s what?" Chris asked, feigning ignorance.
"I saw something!" Rose announced and started to wrestle with the kid-proof seat belt. Her curiosity was being foiled by extra plastic!
"Wait until I turn off the car," Chris instructed as he heard the struggling.
"Hurry!" Rose said, excited and impatient.
Chris rolled his eyes. "Rose, watch your tone," he reminded as he put the car in park and turned it off.
"Sorry," she replied quietly as she began to pout instead.
Chris got out and opened the car door to help her out of her seat. Once free and out of the car, she waited for him to close the door before hurrying off on her own. "Come on, I saw it over there."
"All right, let's see what you found," Chris replied, following along.
Rose happily gasped and made her way over to and examine the bike.
"IT'S A BIKE!" she announced, excitedly jumping around. The achy pain from before was now wholeheartedly ignored in favor of her excitement.
"Now, how did that get there?" Chris wondered with an amused smile as he watched Rose pick up a matching helmet off the handlebars.
At this point, Emma heard the commotion and walked over to open the door. "You're at the front door today?" she asked with a grin.
"There's a bike!" Rose said again with excited laughter.
"There is," Chris affirmed as he looked from the bike to Emma. "With roses painted on it?" Emma smiled and shrugged. "I suppose that means it's for you."
"Really?" Roses asked, surprised. "I'ma go ride it now," she said with a determined smile as she tried and failed to get the bike to move thanks to the kickstand. "WHOA!" She almost fell forward, but Chris managed to catch her and the bike.
"You have to eat dinner first," Emma said, which earned frowns and pouts in return. "Pouting that turns to crying over gifts…" Emma reminded.
"Makes gifts smaller. I'm sorry," Rose quickly said before hurrying into the house while still wearing the helmet.
Emma chuckled and looked at Chris. "Ready?"
"As ready as I can be," he replies with hesitation.
"You'll do fine. Even if she doesn't get it, it's about spending time together outside of the office and mold stuff," Emma told him. "Come on, I think I hear her messing with the dishes."
Chris chuckled at that last comment and followed Emma inside. Dinner was served, and the bike helmet remained on the whole time. There were no if's, and's, or but's that could convince the child to take that helmet off.
Empty plates were put into the sink, and Rose ran for the door, completely forgoing dessert. "Come on! Before the sun goes down," Rose insisted even though they had plenty of daylight left thanks to the rapid approach of the beginning of summer.
"All right, let's go." Chris headed back to the front door as well.
Rose paused and looked past Chris. "Is Emma coming too?"
"Sorry Rosey, I need to stay inside. Bikes are a little too dangerous for baby bellies," Emma offered as a reason for why she wasn't going to help with teaching. This really was something Chris needed to do.
"Oh... okay," she replied with a slight frown. It was always about the baby now...
The sad tone was not lost on Emma. "I'll watch from the doorway once I'm done cleaning up, okay?"
"Okay," she replied though she wasn't particularly thrilled still.
The two made their way outside, and practice began. The bike seat was adjusted, and, for now, Chris left the pedals on. As much as it was a decent idea, he was not confident he'd be able to put them back on right. Practice balancing first.
Rose quickly became frustrated, just like the article said, as the pedals would repeatedly hit her in the legs.
"Can I ride the bike yet?" Rose asked with a pout. This whole learning thing wasn't fun. She just wanted to ride the bike...
It doesn't matter if she actually learns. What's important is spending time together. Chris nodded as he remembered this. "All right, let's try something else," he agreed. Chris initially moved to hold the back seat of the bike but remembered the article's warning not to hold the bike and fight for control. He moved to hold her under her arms as the article said. "I'll hold you up. When you think you're ready, tell me to let go,"
"Okay," Rose said, nodding.
It took a few tries. She fell and tumbled a couple of times, and band-aids were required. Scraped-up knees and palms just made her more determined to get this right.
"Okay, I'm ready," she said for the fourteenth time.
"Are you sure?" Chris asked.
"Yeah," Rose affirmed.
"All right." Chris stopped and let go. Sure enough, Rose managed to keep going.
"I'm doing it!" Rose happily cheered as she pedaled around the cul-de-sac.
"Good job!" Emma called back from her place by the door.
Chris smiled as he watched. Okay, she should be stopping any second now. A second longer, and the article came back to mind.
Practice on a flat tarmac surface. Don't let them go off on their own until they're good at stopping.
Shit, shit, shit. Oh, come on, there's not that much of a slope! Chris sprinted to catch up and quickly grabbed the child from behind to get her off the bike before it crashed into the curb and tumbled into a rose bush. He breathed a sigh of relief. That could have been much worse.
Arthur walked out of the house and squinted. "Hey, you guys okay?" he asked as Chris put Rose down.
Chris looked at Rose, who nodded. With that, he looked back to Arthur. "Yeah, yeah, we're okay. Sorry about the flowers,"
"Not a problem. They'll grow back." He was clearly not attached to them in the slightest. "Stay safe," he said before heading back inside.
"I think that's enough for today.” Chris walked over to get the bike out of the bush.
"I'm sleepy," Rose admitted. If she was achy before, it was definitely worse now, but she didn't mind. This was fun.
"Let's go home then." He held onto the handlebar, so he could walk it home for the child.
Rose followed alongside him before cautiously glancing at him a few times. Chris felt a tiny, bandaged hand hold onto his free hand as they walked, causing him to look over in surprise. It had been a while since she’d done that. A gentle smile formed as he said nothing and continued to walk at her pace.
Emma smiled as she saw this before pressing a button on her phone.
[Emma] -Photo of Chris and Rose walking back with the bike.
[Emma] He's doing well.
'*'*'*'*'
Emma enjoyed what time she could with Chris before he had to leave again. She knew why he had to go, but it didn't make it any easier. The 11th of June arrived, a lovely sunny Saturday and a perfect late spring day for a wedding. Emma smiled as she sat next to Rose and waited for the outdoor ceremony to start. There was something nostalgic about being in this park again. It had been over a year at least.
"What are we doin?" Rose asked quietly as the music played.
"We're watching a wedding," Emma replied.
"Whatsa wedding?" Rose asks.
"It's when two people who love each other very much decide to promise to stay together forever," Emma replied. Granted, forever was kind of a blanket term, and there was always divorce to consider, but she was not going to make the social faux pas of talking about divorce at a wedding.
"So, are they going to have kids?" Rose asked, confused. Chris and Emma got married, and then her belly started growing.
Emma chuckled a bit. "Well, maybe. That's up to them," she replies. "Not every couple ends up wanting kids."
You have to want kids? Rose's concern from before started to grow. They were always so excited about the baby. The baby this, the baby that. Baby, baby, baby. What about Rose? If you had to want kids, and they were having one of their own. What if they didn't want her anymore? They said they loved her, and they wanted her, so why did they need a baby? She had also done bad things since then, like biting Summer, and she used her powers in the house again even though she was not supposed to. She did that twice! Oh no... were they replacing her because she was bad? She didn't mean to.
This line of thought continued in a quiet panic as the ceremony went on. Bastion and Travis walked in after the precession. Rose looked around, feeling both nervous and bored about all of this. Meanwhile, Emma was blissfully unaware of the inner turmoil of the child next to her as she tearfully watched the beautiful ceremony. The grooms left with the party to make a line so everyone got a chance to congratulate the couple on their way over to the area set up with tables and flowers and silk-covered trellises.
Emma and Rose waited in line for their turn to speak with the two. Bastion smiled widely. "Emma! Good to see you. You look great," he said with a smile. "And Rose! You're dressed so nicely. You look very grown-up," Bastion said, which caused Rose to smile. The compliment offered some peace of mind after her bought of inner turmoil.
"Where's Chris?" Travis asked, confused.
"Work?" Bastion asked, knowing well enough.
"Work," Emma confirmed with an apologetic smile.
"If it's not one thing, it's another. He needs to learn to say no sometimes," Bastion replied, shaking his head.
"I don't think he really had a choice on this one," Emma admitted. "I'll be taking pictures, though."
"Oooh, send me what you get. I won't see the ones from the photographer for a few weeks, and that's if I'm lucky," Bastion requested with an excited smile.
"Sure, I'll put them in a cloud folder and send you the link," Emma agreed.
"You're the best. Save a dance for me, okay?" Bastion asked, and Emma nodded in agreement.
'*'*'*'*'
Emma hummed quietly to herself as she and Rose made their way through the store. As much as she wasn't a fan of it, she was starting to get used to being tailed by Gary pretty much all the time. She felt bad that the guy basically lived in a van three weeks a month... hopefully it was a nice van?
She tried not to think about it and went back to looking at different items on the aisle. Cards, ties, wallets, and keychains were among the plethora of different goods on display that read Father's Day June 19th. That would be tomorrow, and there was a good chance Chris wouldn't be home, but she wanted to get something all the same. Let's see what else was there. A 'paper weight' that was just a rock that had the words 'my dad rocks' painted on it. No... A jar of nuts that said 'nuts for you,' a bag of golf tees that said 'you're TEE riffic'... Were all of these gifts puns? She liked a good pun as much as the next person, but these were horrible.
"Hey Emma," Rose asked as she looked around while holding on to the cart. "What are you looking for?"
"Hm? Oh, I was looking for a present for Chris," Emma said with a slight frown. Past tense seemed most appropriate. She was ready to give up and just look elsewhere in the store.
"Why?" Rose asked.
Oh dear, we're entering the 'why' phase. Everything's a question. She was a bit late for that. Or... well, early? It was hard to say. "Well, There's a holiday coming up where you give father figures presents to say thank you." Actually, she should probably send something to her dad, too, now that she thought about it.
Rose waited a bit and looked between the shelf and Emma. "Why?"
Oh Lordy, give her patience. "Because it's a nice thing to do."
"Oh," Rose replied quietly. She contemplated asking why again to make a game of it but remembered her fear from the wedding that she was going to be replaced. If she was really, really good, maybe they'd change their mind and put the baby back?
Emma looked over the gifts again before glancing at Rose and then back at the shelves. "Why don't you pick something for him too?" Emma offered with a smile. This could be a good way to eventually lead into that 'hey do you want us to be your mom and dad' conversation once they finally had the time.
"Me?" Rose asked, surprised.
"Yeah. Go ahead and pick something to give Chris for Father's Day," Emma confirmed.
Rose looked around the isle and eventually found a bunch of paint and bake mug kits. She dug through the boxes and ended up with a decent collection of rejects around her on the floor of the store. Frustrated grumbles and whines became audible as her search continued.
"What's wrong?" Emma asked, concerned. Why was she digging through the same section of boxes?
"I can't find one that says Chris on it... They all say dad," Rose explained as she picked up a box and held it up for Emma to see. The box showed a child painting the mug in question with the help of a parent, and an image of the potential finished product was shown to the left as a brightly painted mug read #1 DAD!
And that was the sound of Emma's heart breaking. She cleared her throat before speaking. "Well. If you want to get him that, and you want it to say Chris, I'll help you paint the letters. How does that sound?"
"Really?" Rose asked, excited.
"Really, really," Emma agreed. "Let's put these back on the shelf, though," she said while trying to figure out how on earth she was going to bend over to pick all this up.
"I got it," Gary said, having noticed the problem pretty quickly and making his way over.
"Thanks," Emma said with a grateful smile as she managed to avoid the unfortunately difficult exercise.
Whoops, Rose thought while internally wincing. She made a mess. Darn it, that was another bad thing. She wasn't supposed to do that. While neither guardian ever got notably upset with her over messes, the narrative Rose built in her own mind about potentially being replaced made any form of failure to meet expectations seem like a very big problem. The only one keeping track was her, but she didn’t know that.
"There we go. Just don't let them know I broke protocol this time, okay?" Gary requested, and Emma nodded.
"Thanks again. Don't worry. I won't tell," she replied before looking at Rose. "We still have a bit more shopping to do. Are you ready?"
"Yeah," Rose replied and followed alongside the cart like she was supposed to.
Emma eventually gave up on trying to find a gift at the store and settled on ordering something online and hoping it arrived before Chris.
When the two made it home, the table was covered in old newspapers, so the painting set could be set up.
Emma painted the word 'DAD' with blue paint to block it out for Rose while she watched TV and waited for the kit to be ready. Emma baked the paint on and looked at it. It looked a bit strange just having a blue square there. Emma put a green triangle over where the #1 was supposed to be to go with a sort of Deco Pop design to cover the original design. Sort of like an old fashion 80s abstract shape setup. It took a bit for that to dry, but once that was done, she put it down on the table.
"Rose, did you still want to paint?" Emma asked.
"Yeah!" Rose replied, hurrying over to take the seat. Oh. Oh no, the guidelines were gone. I mean, that's what she asked Emma to do but. She'd have to remember letters on her own. She stared at the mug before handing it back to Emma. "Help?" she asked with a nervous expression.
"You can do it, here," Emma got a pencil before walking back and drawing a # on the mug. "Can you paint that shape?" She was not going to explain what a pound sign, hashtag, whatever you want to call it, was to a five-year-old. She'd worry about that once she's old enough for social media.
Rose painted over the marks in bright yellow paint.
"Very good," Emma praised. "You're learning your numbers. Can you paint a one next to that?"
Rose concentrated extremely hard on it and painted a proper 1 with the little feet and the handle like they showed during number class. This went on with each part of the painting. Emma would tell Rose what letter to paint, and she'd think it over to remember the letter and paint it onto the mug. By the time she was done, the mug happily read #1 Chris.
The lettering was baked in then the mug was offered back for the girl to paint on. Rose added squiggles and swirls in lots of colors. One more bake, then glazed so the paint would stay on in the wash, and then baked again. The kit even included a paper bag for Rose to draw on and tissue paper to put inside in order to wrap the gift.
"All that's left is to wait for Chris to get home," Emma said with a smile.
'*'*'*'*'
Another twenty-one-day sprint in Europe was finished and there was no end in sight. It looked like the trend was going to be that he'd get a week off here and there, but that was about it. "What happened to ‘stay the hell out of Europe?’" Chris grumbled to himself as he finished up the last of his cigarette while making his way home again. He looked at the car radio, but luckily this time it was only 7 PM.
Chris parked his car and went through the motions, grabbing his bag from the back before heading over to the door. Emma should still be awake, but just in case, he remained quiet. "I'm home," he said in a moderate indoor voice instead of loudly proclaiming like usual.
Rose excitedly gasped. "HE'S HERE! HE'S HERE HE'S HERE HE'S HERE," she repeatedly announced while hurrying around.
"I am," Chris said with a laugh before moving to put his bag down by the shoe tree and kick off his shoes.
"I got you a present!" Rose said happily as this was the first time she had gotten to give a present instead of getting one. It was kind of exciting. Hopefully, he liked it. She hurried to the coffee table and picked up the gift bag, so she could give it to Chris
Chris accepted the paper bag decorated with marker doodles stuffed with tissue paper. "You did?" Chris asked, a bit confused as he looked at Emma, who was smiling to herself.
"Yeah. Open it, open it," Rose repeated excitedly.
"All right, one second. Let's go sit down," he replied.
"I'll go warm up a plate for you," Emma said as she headed to the kitchen to serve up some of the leftover dinner that she had only recently put in the fridge.
Chris went to the dining room table and took a seat while Rose quickly scampered into her own seat and nudged the bag a bit closer to Chris after he set it down.
"All right, I'm opening it," he said with a short chuckle. He removed the tissue paper and took the mug out of the bag to read it over. The faint outline of the words #1 Dad were still faintly visible under the paint that read #1 Chris instead.
"Do you like it?" she asked, nervous that maybe he didn't, and she did this whole gift-giving thing wrong.
Chris smiled gently at the gift before looking over to see Rose watching him expectantly. "I think I have a new favorite mug."
He really liked it! Rose was thrilled to hear this as her ear-to-ear smile remained. "Really?" he asked, surprised.
"Yep. Is it okay if I bring this into work to use there?" Chris requested, which surprised Rose even more. He wanted to bring it to work too?
"Yeah!" she confirmed with an enthusiastic nod.
"As hey, it ay, een bay, ashed way?" he asked 'has it been washed,' in pig Latin to avoid offending Rose.
Emma nodded.
"Well, guess I should test it out," he said, feeling a bit more confident in the safety of the mug with that confirmation. The night went on, and Chris was more or less not allowed to go anywhere without that mug. If Rose noticed he left it behind, she'd go and get it and bring it to him.
The child was eventually sent to bed, and Chris was finally able to leave the mug by the sink so it could be washed later. Emma snuck two wrapped gifts out of the cabinet before walking over to sit next to Chris and Duke on the couch.
"You too?" Chris asked, amused, as Emma offered the gifts, a rather thin flat one and a small square box with a card.
"They're nothing too special," Emma said. "Though speaking of the whole gift thing, we still need to talk to Rose."
"Right... I would have brought it up earlier, but we haven't really agreed on what to say," Chris pointed out, and Emma nodded.
"Right. No, that makes sense. We'll work out what to say," she agreed. This was something they kind of needed to make a plan for.
"I only have a week," Chris said with a slight frown.
"We'll figure something out," Emma replied.
He nodded and looked over the two. "Over the weekend. Is there an order I need to open this in?"
"The flat one is from me, and the small box and card are from the parasite," Emma explained with an amused smile.
Chris rolled his eyes a bit at that, but was smiling all the same. "Let's start with this then," he said as he opened the flat package. Inside was a book of sheet music for guitars. He stared at the book, unsure how to react. "I can't read," he eventually said.
"What?" Emma asked, surprised. He read all the time.
"Sheet music," he said, gesturing to the book in his hand. "I never learned how to read sheet music. Never really took classes. I just played by ear," Chris explained.
"Oh!" Emma replied, surprised, which caused Chris to start to laugh. "I'm so sorry. I didn't realize."
"It's fine. I suppose I should probably put some effort into figuring that out," he admitted
"Well. I think the parasite did a bit better?" she offered, wincing as she smiled. She'd have to remember that going forward. Maybe some sheet music flashcards?
Chris opened and read the card that was designed to look like it was drawn by a child. I'm excited to meet you, it read inside, and Emma had added a little note that read for future fun. Chris raised an eyebrow at that before opening the gift to find a baseball inside a neat little box.
"You think I'll end up having time to play catch with him?" Chris asked, curious about her optimism, considering how busy his schedule had been.
"Or her," Emma added.
"But most likely him," Chris said.
"Oh, so you know?" Emma asked, amused.
Chris paused to assess if that was a warning in disguise before deeming it safe to joke around. “What can I say? It’s a man’s intuition.”
“Yeah, well, Jack's intuition was wrong three times in a row," Emma pointed out, laughing now as well.
"Well, we'll be finding out soon anyway, right?" Chris asked.
"True. Do you know when you'll be back again?" Emma wondered.
"No idea. They're keeping this one under lock and key. Whatever was in that book, it made the BSAA nervous," Chris said quietly.
That was never a good thing. Emma tried to force a neutral expression. "I'll see if I can get something over the weekend. Maybe they have a cancelation?"