troublewillfindme

Officially, he is there as a spotter, a second set of eyes to keep watch for anything unusual. The Council may have taken a hit with the destruction of the stockpile and the closure of the Bureau, but he puts nothing past them, not when one of their few remaining assets remains a question mark in their inventory.

He’s not keen on letting anyone affiliated with the Council get their hands on another child. He’s seen what they did to his son. He doesn’t want to imagine what they’d do to his granddaughter.

Granddaughter.

It’s a word he’d never imagined he’d get to use. Not after Will. Not after Ava.

Yet, here they are.

–

He’s loosely aware of the fact that Sally has necessitated some alterations in Will’s movie habits; little girls don’t really have a taste for bad sci fi or romantic comedies until they’re at least out of pre-school, after all.

Disney movies, however, are a different story.

For the most part, they seem to have skipped the princess cannon. As far as he can tell, they’d started at Emperor’s New Groove, and picked their way haphazardly through from there. Mulan and Atlantis had gotten good reviews, as had Mary Poppins. They’d detoured, then, into what he has come to refer to as “the dog movies”: 101 Dalmatians, Lady and the Tramp, and Oliver and Company.

Somehow, they’d even begun working their way through the Pixar films: Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Wall-E, and most recently, Finding Nemo.

That’s what brought them here.

Well, that and Sally’s insistence on touching the fish.

“They’re fish, kiddo,” Will had tried to reason with her. “They’re not like Jane. They live in the water. You don’t pet Jack’s fish.”

“But maybe they want to be pet. Jane likes pets.”

“Kiddo, they don’t … we don’t pet fish.”

Jack had listened to the conversation with barely concealed amusement, and had quietly emailed the Point Defiance link to Will.

–

Slowly, she is growing more comfortable out in public. She still clings to him or Will, yes, but there isn’t the same kind of fear in her eye. He thinks that, one day, she might even manage curiosity.

“Kitty!” Sally chirps from the safety of her father’s arms.

“That’s a tiger, Sally. Very big, very dangerous kitty.”

“Can we pet it?”

“No, kiddo. Not that kind of kitty.”

“How about that one?” She asks, pointed to a small leopard nearby.

He watches Will sigh, a smile creeping across his lips. “If it’s here, we probably shouldn’t pet it.”

“But kitties!”

“Jane would be sad.”

Sally considers this for a moment, then nods, seemingly placated. “Okay, no petting, then.”

–

Will deposits her into his arms at the start of their aquarium visit. “Your turn.”

He holds her up to watch the tropical fish, smiling as she excitedly points out a small clownfish, insisting on it being the real Nemo.

In the background, he hears the click of Will’s shutter.

“I wanna pet them,” his granddaughter insists as they stand before the shark tank.

“You wanna pet everything.”

“No,” she says, shaking her head. “I don’t wanna pet the octopus.”

“Okay, not the octopus, but just about everything else.”

“They’re friends!”

He shakes his head. “Alright, let’s go pet some friends.”

–

The ray flaps against the side of the tank, seeming to enjoy the attention. He crouches down with Sally, one hand on her back and the other in the tank with her’s.

His granddaughter’s face is nothing but delight.

He doesn’t even hear the camera click.

–

He finds a large sealed envelope waiting for him on his desk after lunch that Monday.

“Thanks for the help,” the enclosed note reads.

He reaches in and pulls out the contents, a single photograph.

He realizes he’ll need a frame.