Gift
It was the best present ever.
She'd been right, it wasn't what he wanted at all. He needed a family unit, whole and complete, with a yard and a dog and family nights. He needed stability and routine and wholesome familial love.
She needed to watch something broken become fixed. To watch something very-not-all-right become something sort-of-okay. She didn't know how he knew, but he did. She hadn't even known herself. As she watched the Father and Daughter bond over the latest water colour she felt her heart give a little lurch. Tears sprang to her eyes. A fierce joy, a desperate longing.
It gave her such an insight into her mentor that this was how his family had made him feel.
"Thank you," she whispered again and knew he could hear the tears in her voice.
"No problem," came his soft, muted response. She wished he did touching. She wished she could reach out and squeeze his hand.
"You gonna remember where this is?" he asked quietly, and Quinn gave a little distracted nod, her eyes fixated on the father placing a hand on his daughter's shoulder, a small almost-there smile at his mouth.
"Quinn?"
"Yeah," her voice cracked, and she swallowed the lump, "we can go."
"Hey, Huck," she found herself whispering into the dark of the car as the suburbs drifted past in a glow of streetlamps and hedges, "do they laugh?"
Huck's voice grew even softer than she thought possible.
"I've not seen it yet, but I'm sure someday you will."
She clasped her hands in her lap trying to reign in the cacophony of emotions, not quite sure which was going to make her cry first.
"We'll find a family for you." It exploded from her lips, her clenched hands tightening as it did, eyes flashing to this man that she couldn't even begin to fathom. A lifetime wouldn't be enough to peel back each layer of scar tissue.
"There's no rush." His voice was serene in contrast to her passion. "You got to take your time. It's a big commitment. You gotta choose right."
She didn't know if there was grief hidden in that statement or not.
"It must really hurt you, what happened to them," and because her eyes were fixed on his face as he drove she saw the tiniest flicker of a reaction. "I get it now." And she did. She hadn't before, not really. Now she did. She'd had her family for five minutes and the thought of something horrible happening to them made her stomach twist nastily. How much more so for him? They paused at a red light, one of his hands dropping into his lap.
She leaned forward suddenly, earnestly and breaking all the unspoken rules, reached over and squeezed his hand. He jumped a little, but she let go before he could do anything else.
"Thank – you," she whispered fiercely, "they are the best gift ever," and she got the privilege of seeing the soft not-quite-daring curl of his lips that she knew once upon a time had been the most wonderful smile. She knew with startling clarity that if having a family again made him smile, really truly smile then she would scour the whole of DC until she found them for him.