There are at least two other stories I've found about Six smoking. I've mentioned it in one of my chapters in Conversation. As much as I would like to think he didn't smoke, he was a mercenary. If you read M. Rex, you know he smoked. So what made him stop? How did he stop? This is my take.
I don't own.
When Holiday first saw him light up, it had been a long day. Rex had nearly taken his head off when he figured out all of a sudden that he could make a sword… a really big sword. Rex immediately named it BFS… "Big Fat Sword." Six had another name for it, an unrepeatable name.
Later that day, Six had to stop Rex and Bobo from rampaging through the new Petting Zoo. By the time he was able to corral the two culprits, several trees were downed, some EVOs were scared witless and Mel was so enraged that it took several agents and himself to subdue the beast.
The final straw came when the boy refused to go to sleep. He decided to play hide and seek. Six finally found him in the air ducts. White spent the next hour discussing his inability to control the weapon.
0o0
Holiday took over when she noticed that his jaw was clenched so tight that she could hear his molars cracking. After feeding Rex three burritos and a glass of warm milk, she managed to coax him into brushing his teeth before getting him into bed. She smiled when he almost immediately passed out. Bobo slept in the room in a hammock and he too was snoring softly. Holiday tiptoed out and searched for Six.
She found him standing at the edge of the still destroyed Petting Zoo with a cloud of smoke over his head. His back was towards her and his shades dangled from his left hand. She softly cleared her throat.
If it was possible to startle Six, this was as close as it got. She could see his shoulders tighten in the new green jacket that he had decided to wear instead of his swat suit that she first met him in. He quickly dropped the cigarette onto the floor and snuffed it out with the point of his shiny black loafers.
"Finally, asleep?" He asked as the shades were placed back on his face.
"Yes," Holiday said quietly.
"Good." He turned towards her face unreadable. "Well, good night, doctor." He walked toward the door. Holiday hated the smell of smoke and held her breath as he walked past her. She watched disapprovingly as he disappeared behind the sliding doors.
0o0
The next day she acted as if nothing was wrong. It did not escape his notice that she had held her breath last night as he walked past. But more than that, he saw the disappointment on her face. He waited all day for her to say something. However, she didn't. He didn't know why what she thought would bother him. Plenty of the other agents smoked. Even White smoked until he was bleached. Besides his life was difficult. Didn't he deserve to indulge in some relaxing activity? It wasn't hurting anyone. Sure he knew it was probably killing him. But he didn't want to live forever anyway. And if this didn't kill him, some EVO or maybe even the boy himself probably would. Six paused. Why was he trying to justify his life choices? He glanced at his partner… or rather co-worker.
She had recently started putting her hair up after she had gotten too close to a cage. An EVO had reached out and grabbed her hair from the back. Holiday yanked hard but the EVO wouldn't let go. Rex jumped in and cured it before it could hurt her. Six was about to slice the EVO's hand off. He was glad that Rex had intervened otherwise it would have been messy. From then on Holiday no longer had her hair down or wore earrings. Both wise decisions according to Six. They did work in a dangerous environment. There wasn't any need to wear extraneous ornaments. Plus she looked rather nice with her hair up. Six mentally shook his head. Why was he thinking about her again? Oh yes, the smoking thing. Well, he was going to smoke no matter what she thought.
0o0
But that day, he didn't, or the next, or the one after that. It wasn't until a week later, after a particularly stressful day of dealing with Rex, that he snuck off to the Petting Zoo again.
He inhaled a lungful of toxins before expelling it into the air. It was soothing after a long day. Taking another drag, he slowly let it out.
"So… how long have you been smoking?" A voice behind him asked.
"Why?" He countered tersely. He didn't know how she knew he was there.
"Just curious." She answered.
They both lapsed into silence.
"Aren't you going to lecture me about the dangers of smoking?" There was a bit of sarcasm in his voice.
To his surprise she stepped in front of him. She shook her head. "You're a grown man. You make your own decisions. It's your own business if you want to poison yourself." She paused studying him.
Six was uncomfortable under her gaze. He was use to being on the other side.
"Well then?" He finally blurted out.
Holiday sighed. It was a weary one. "I found Rex with this." She held out her hand. It must have been a cigarette left by one of the grunts.
He looked at her.
"It was still warm and he was trying to inhale it." Holiday continued. "I told him that it was not a good habit to pick up, but do you know what he said?"
Six remained silent.
"He said that if Six does it, it must not be bad." She looked pointedly at him. Her hand closed around the butt. Crossing her arms she walked toward the door. Stopping before walking out, she turned around.
"Sometimes, it's not about us. Sometimes we have to do things because it's the responsible, right thing to do." With that she left.
Six cursed all women.
0o0
Six searched the internet. He was not the type who would ask for help. If he was going to quit, he would do it himself. He had already flushed all his packs down the toilet. He didn't like the idea of wearing a nicotine patch. He was worried with all the moving around he did, it could fall off. He finally found what he was looking for. He clicked on the link and pulled out his credit card.
The next day Holiday was looking through the packages for her new test tubes, since Rex had accidently destroyed all the lab's. She came upon a metal tin addressed to Six. She stared at it. It was wintergreen mints.
"I'll take those." The box was plucked from her hands. She stared dumbfounded at the man in the green suit.
He looked at her expressionlessly. "I like mints."
"They're green." Holiday said stupidly.
"It matches the color scheme." Holiday could have sworn one side of his mouth quirked up before straightening back into a thin line. "See you later, doctor." He walked away.
Holiday looked at the empty spot realizing what the mints meant. A smile spread over her face as she went back to searching for her test tubes.
Later that day, she overheard Rex and Six as they passed by her office.
"Can I have one?"
"No."
"Just one? Please?"
"No."
"How come you get candy?"
"It's not candy."
"It says mints. Mints are candy."
"Not these. They're for something else."
"What?"
"Stress."
"That's weird."
"Not really, and Rex, if I ever catch you trying to smoke I'll take that rubber ball away."
"But you smoke."
"Not anymore."
Their voices faded down the hall.
Holiday smiled again. Maybe she could work with this highly irascible, emotionally detached man.
Why am I not writing the stories I said I would? I can't find the motivation. I have the stories in my head but I don't want to write anymore. I have to finish Conversations and 50 First Dates but all the others I'm pretty much done. I did promised to do the wedding and I started writing it but I don't feel like finishing anymore. Why? I don't know. Maybe it's that time of the month. Maybe my students have been letting me down so much that I question my calling in life. Maybe I'm just so overwhelmed that I want to curl into a fetal position and cry. Anyway, I'll see what I can do.
** Sorry about the above rant. Thank you for the nice comments. I feel a little better now but I still am a little worn out. Maybe you're right, I just need some time.
God Bless.