troublewillfindme

He does not actually like running to Jack for everything. Yes, the older man clearly knows what he’s doing, but Weir’s never liked the feeling of being dependent.

These are the facts: Sally has to go to school. There is no way around it. He can do everything in his power to find her one with good security protocols, but at the end of the day, safely making it through school is going to require Sally keeping some secrets, including her psionics.

He doesn’t want to scare her. She has already been through so much, and he dreads the idea of adding to that burden.

But, he also needs to keep her safe.

So, he turns to the only resource left: the internet.

Generally speaking, he cannot cook. He is a hazard in the kitchen, an uncanny talent for culinary catastrophe plaguing him most of his adult life.

He’d considered taking another crack at learning to cook once Sally came into his life, the result of a vague understanding that one was not supposed to raise a small child on a diet of take-out, frozen foods, and candy.

Jack had quickly disabused him on the notion, however. “With your luck? You’ll burn the house down and you’ll both end up on my couch. No, I’ll handle the cooking.”

So, yes, they are over at Jack’s with some regularity.

The last thing her father says to her is “I love you.”

She holds the memory close.

She’ll need it.

–

He may not have any personal experience with the phenomenon, but he’s pretty sure Sally has a fever. Her eyes are glassy, her skin is clammy, and she’s much too warm to the touch.

He knows asking if she feels well isn’t the best measure; compared to what she’s lived through, there isn’t a lot that hurts.

Still, he feels like he should. “You feel alright, kiddo?”

She wrinkles her nose. “My throat doesn’t feel good.”

Okay, then. She’s sick.

Marlowe exhales, letting his cigarette smoke curl up into the night sky.

A child. Of course, there had been a child. Why shouldn’t history repeat itself, the snake devouring its own tail?

The whole thing feels sickeningly familiar.

–