trans_9 | Well, Damn [Closed]

Sherry ignored the panic bell that rang in her head. If she looked guilty, they'd dig further.

And if they dug further, she really wouldn't be able to explain what that thing had been in the labyrinth. "Just regular-trouble," she said and raised her eyebrows slightly, as though they should be used to this by now. "Nothing bad."

"Sherry..." Claire's tone obviously said she knew Sherry was question dodging, and that the little girl was going to have to be a little more convincing to wiggle out of this one.

"If it's 'nothing bad' then why don't you tell us about it?" It sounded like a simple suggestion, but despite Sherry being a slippery child, she would not get out of that hug until she spilled.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, a tap dance. Sherry raised her eyebrows at her father, and blinked before answering. Even worse, she was becoming more familiar with that tone.

"I went to the City the other day, remember? And I saw that big tree, and I found a... garden maze. I got lost a few times and almost fell into the hole in the center, that's all." It wasn't the whole truth, but it was close enough. Hopefully, it would satisfy her parents. "I told you it wasn't anything bad."

Okay, that seemed like plausible enough trouble to Claire, but she'd let Leon make the final call. He was the one holding her captive, plus he could actually see their daughter's face.

She was just not going to say anything because anything about being careful about where you snoop she could say would sound hugely hypocritical.

Leon sighed a bit, but it was more a 'figures' than 'stop stalling'. Congrats, Sherry, you have just gotten one over on your parents. ~~Though they'll probably have a tracking device implanted in you anyway.~~

"Just be careful where you poke around at in the future, alright?"

Wait, that worked? There really was something to be said for subtlety, wasn't there? "I will," Sherry promised, and hoped she wouldn't be lying. She smiled and mussed her father's hair. "I seem to get in more trouble with the other kids than I do by myself, anyway, right?" Right.

Good thing she'd tucked the book the Faun had given her away. Unless Claire got a sudden itch to take apart their room, Sherry was fairly sure she wouldn't see it. Besides, it was just weird-looking, not incriminating, considering the blank pages (she was still disappointed with that).

Claire smirked at that, standing up and moving to readjust her position so she was sitting next to Leon, ruffling Sherry's hair as she sat down.

"Maybe, but sometimes it's better having people with you to make sure you don't get yourself into too much trouble." Backup was always a good thing to have, and Claire would rather not encourage Sherry's already habitual solitary behavior.

Leon did not whargarble when Sherry messed with his hair, instead he only tried not to grin at her, and mostly failed at that.

"See," he said, pointing to his hair, "this is why I need a hat," he joked. "And I should probably get a coat too." Even though he went through those like they were candy. Occupational hazard.

"Anyway, your mother is right. Sometimes its good to have people to talk you out of getting into trouble. And to watch your back whenever you do get into some." of the two, Claire was definitely good at the latter part.

Sherry gave Leon a thoughtful look, and went through her mental list of children on the ship she knew. No, no, maybe, maybe, hmm, no, stool pigeon. Yep, that pretty much covered it.

"Okay." Which meant she think about it, even though she was still a little unconvinced.

Well, that was a start, at least. Claire smiled, reaching out to pat Sherry's arm.

"Off you go, then. Homework to do."

"Yes," Leon agreed, and gave Sherry a kiss on her forehead. "Be good," he told her, then finally let her go.

Then promptly fixed his hair.

"I can't get in trouble doing my homework, Dad." Sherry grinned at her parents and pulled herself away from her parents. She kissed them both on the cheek and hurried away. There were problems not of the Family Kind to be resolved, and she much preferred that.

She was a member of their family. If anyone could find a way to get in trouble doing homework, it was her.

Once Sherry was out the door, the smile on Claire's face faded, and she sighed, turning to look back at Leon.

"So, you probably have to get to work."

Leon took a breath, a thoughtful expression on his face on a moment. He did need to address the crew, then he'd have to start getting this house in order, and so many other things.

"I do," he admitted, but didn't make a move to go anywhere. "But that can wait for a while."

Her smile returned a little at that, and she reached for his hand, tilting her head to the side.

"You know why I didn't want you to win, right?"

He had to think about that for a moment, and took her hand in his as he did.

"No. No, I don't," he admitted, much to his disappointment. He knew it wasn't because of a lack of faith in him, which is why he never got offended about it. But... "Everything happened so fast and I was so busy that we never got a chance to discuss it.

"...which probably has something to do with it."

Claire nodded her head, leaning her shoulder against his.

"Well, that's part of it. Even when you were all... Government Agent, we still had time to talk." She bit her lip, glancing over at him. "Mostly though, it's because I know you didn't want it. I've got all the faith in the world in you, and I know you'll do everything you can to make sure everyone is safe.

But I know it's not what you want to be doing."

He looked over at her, his expression a little guilty. She knew him too well.

"This wouldn't be my first choice," he admitted. "But... I go where I'm needed." It wouldn't be the first time he's had to put his own wants aside and did what was needed of him.

"I know." Claire smiled, squeezing his hand gently. "I'm telling you right now though, I'm going to be completely unreasonable when I feel like you're overworking yourself and need to take a break."

"Thanks for the heads up," he said grinning at her. He leaned over a kissed her, something he hadn't done nearly enough of in the past few weeks.

She definitely had no objections to the kissing. Although, when she broke away she lifted her free hand and touched her index finger briefly to her lips, giving Leon a bit of a sheepish look.

"Speaking of heads up, I should probably tell you now, while you were busy being Captain I got myself in trouble with Stacy." See? This is why she didn't say all that much when telling Sherry to behave.

That got his eyebrows to raise.

"What did you do?"

She didn't feel bad about punching Lex, and she'd hold to everything she'd promised if he did anything further, but she did feel a little bad on how this might reflect back on Leon. Despite the fact that she figured it shouldn't, she was still his girlfriend, and there were still people who didn't like him, though it seemed the majority of the crew did.

"I kind of punched Lex Luthor."

Blink.

"...you say that like it's a bad thing."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject