Author: Eloarei
Series: HINABN
Characters: Worth, OCs

Talking To Strangers

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It was a relatively normal day for Worth. That is to say, he had no patients complaining of supernatural diseases or life-threatening wounds. So, perhaps not normal by his standards. Relaxing may have been a more fitting description. Either way, it was his lack of pressing matters to attend to that gave him the opportunity to take the leisurely walk to the local convenience store that he was currently enjoying. Contrary to popular belief, the scruffy man did not have any particular aversion to sunlight, public places, or crowded streets, and occasionally took afternoon strolls through the town simply to take his mind off things.

He had almost reached his most frequented corner-store when he felt a sharp tug from the back of his fur-lined coat. He whipped around to face the offender, expecting a beggar attempting to bum a cigarette from him, or even possibly Hanna, one of the few people he knew who considered tugging on a person's coat a proper form of greeting, but was momentarily stunned to find the airspace behind him empty. Until a second tug prompted him to turn his attention downward.

A tiny little girl was firmly attached to his jacket, both hands sunk into the fur up to her wrists. She was staring expectantly at him with huge blue eyes, messy locks of wavy blonde hair obscuring her vision slightly.

"Whaddya doin', kid?" he grumbled, stepping forward in hopes of dislodging himself from the girl's grasp. "Let go."

"Papa, wait!"

Worth rolled his eyes at the child's protest. "Dintcher mama ever tell ya not to talk to-- hey, I'm not yer papa-!" He tugged a little harder at his coat, but it did nothing to dissuade his tiny human barnacle. She held on for dear life, all the while staring up at him with sparkling eyes and a pouty lip.

A short battle of wills ensued, and Worth lost horribly.

"Ugh," he groaned, as he leaned his back against the nearest brick wall. "Well, what the heck 'm I s'posed to do? I can't just leave ya here, and I can't exac'ly take ya with me." He looked the little girl straight in her bright blue eyes. "Where're yer parents, kid?"

The child pulled happily on the furry edge of the coat again. "I'm goin' wif Papa today!"

The shabby doctor sighed and shook his head. "Yer sorely mistaken, 'lil girl, I ain't no one's father. I'd make a lousy dad, you can bet on that." But it didn't matter a bit what Worth said to her, the adorable little blondie just stared and refused to let go.

After a few moments, he decided that sitting there would get them nowhere, quite literally. So he pushed up from the wall, a little wearily, and kept on his way to the convenience store, walking slowly so the little girl could follow easily with her tiny gait.

It took a little longer than it otherwise might have, but Worth and his miniature escort arrived at his original planned destination and pushed past a few loiterers to get through the open doorway and into the cool air-conditioned corner-store. At this point the little girl actually detached herself from "papa" as she became giddily distracted by the aisle of tantalizing candies. Worth followed her as she toddled through the aisle. "Where ya think yer goin', shortie?" She tactfully ignored him in favor of making grabby hands at all of her favorite goodies.

"C' I have this, papa?" she said to Worth, hands full of Skittles and Laffy Taffy packages, eyes full of expectation.

The doc wrinkled his forehead at her. "Look, I already told ya I'm not yer papa." She began to wiggle her lower lip at him so he added hastily, "But I guess I could prob'ly afford a candy or two." Her face broke into the brightest smile he'd ever seen on a human being, aside from the little redheaded magician-in-training, of course, and he couldn't help but shoot her a playful grin in return, which caused her to giggle and run off as fast as her stubby legs could carry her. Luckily, she ran towards the register, instead of making Worth chase her around the tiny store, as he'd half-expected her to do. (Kids were weird like that, he thought. You never could quite predict them.)

"She's cute," the cashier said casually when Worth walked up. "Your granddaughter?" she asked.

He shot the young woman a light glare and responded, "Not hardly," just barely refraining from grouching, 'Fuck you, I'm not old enough to have gran'kids.' (Didn't want to be a bad influence now, did he?) The cashier frowned but shrugged and began to ring up the little girl's candies and Worth's spontaneous package of beef jerky.

It was just as he was paying the young woman that he heard a shout that caused his head to turn reflexively.

"Luce!"

A frantic-looking woman who appeared maybe ten or fifteen years older than Worth stuck her head through the open doorway and looked around, eyes wide, until she noticed the doctor and his tiny companion.

"Lucy!" she cried, and rushed forward to take the girl up in her arms.

"Gramma!" the little girl (Lucy, apparently?) yelled happily. "Gramma, I found papa, look!" She reached out to take hold of Worth's sleeve as he stared.

The woman narrowed her eyes at the strange man whose furred sleeve her granddaughter was clutching like a lifeline, until some sort of understanding dawned on her. She stood up and faced Worth, smiling sadly. "I'm so sorry if my granddaughter was bothering you."

Worth shook his head. "Nah, it's no big deal. Just a little strange bein' called Papa."

"I'm sorry," the woman said again, her smile twice as sad. "Her father passed away somewhat recently, and you do bear a resemblance to him. She... must have gotten confused. I apologize."

"It's no problem," Worth insisted. "She's a cute kid."

She shifted Lucy in her arms and gazed at her fondly. "She is, isn't she? A handful sometimes, but..." The woman's voice trailed off, and she looked back up at the doctor. "Thank you for watching out for her."

Worth nodded, for some reason not quite willing to say 'You're welcome', and watched as the two exited the store. ("Time to go home, Lucy sweetie. Maybe we'll see the nice man again later.") He kept his eyes trained on the doorway for several moments after they'd gone, lost in some senseless thought.

He was brought back to the present by the cashier politely clearing her throat. "Are you still going to want these?" she asked, indicating the small pile of candies.

He thought of a hyper redhead's childish grin and shrugged, smiling slightly. "Sure. Got another kid at home who'll prob'ly love 'em."