notes: I should have led with this last chapter but this fic comes with a language warning, meaning a) strong language ahoy but mostly b) rampant google translate errors.
Across town, Gabriel Reyes is the eye of his own personal hurricane. As usual.
The doorbell rings, sending Peacekeeper running for the door. He jumps up against the door again and again as Gabe turns and thunders, "Jesse! Control your hound!"
Jesse skids through to the entry way, bowling over the large lean dog in a full body tackle and getting a face full of slobbery tongue for his trouble. "What's the matter, Pops? Can't handle takin' down one friendly dog?" Jesse gives him a rakish grin as Peacekeeper turns the tables and rolls him over to lick his ear.
"Increíble," Gabe mutters. "Just get him out of here. And get yourself out with him, it's business."
Jesse levers himself to his feet, putting a hand on the dog's neck to guide him towards the back of the house. "Okay, we know when we ain't wanted," he laughs. "C'mon, Keep."
It's Amélie at the door, Gabe can see the top of her high ponytail through the glass. Her disdain for the dog is well known, part and parcel of her disdain for animals in general. She's not going to like his newest plan, he thinks. Gabe's pretty sure he's going to regret it too but he's committed to the idea. She might start making him meet her somewhere cliché and posh, like some godawful coffee shop. It would at least be quieter.
Right on cue, a shriek echoes from the back the house. It's immediately followed by two sets of laughter and a flurry of barking and Gabe sighs. He saves his latest post and goes for the door, leaving the kids to their own devices. Sombra starts cursing Jesse out in Spanish, complaining about disgusting slobber while Genji encourages the dog through his cackles. Gabe has no idea when he even came over. He never saw him come in through the door—not that doors are Genji's preferred method of entry.
Amélie smirks at the look on his face when he gets the door open. Maybe a coffee shop isn't a terrible idea after all. "Don't even start," he says as he waves her into the den.
"I would not dream of it," she murmurs, settling herself elegantly on the desk chair and straightening her pencil skirt. He shuffles through some of his notes and cuts straight to the chase, giving her his report from his home visit yesterday for their shared case. She makes her own notes and does a fantastic job of pretending the back half of the house isn't a three ring circus. Some days Gabe wonders how this became his life.
Amélie hands him some paperwork for their newest case's trial proceedings as she makes her exit, tossing a nonchalant wave over her shoulder. Peacekeeper rushes back in the minute the door closes and shoves his head into the sidelight window to watch her go. Gabe steps over him.
He sticks his head into the living room. "Alright, gamberros, I'm heading out. This house had better still be standing when I get back."
Jesse gives him a thumbs up from the floor as Peacekeeper charges back in and flops on top of him. Sombra rolls her eyes, gives him a halfhearted, "Si, si," as she uses her outstretched foot to keep the dog away from her. Genji gives him a cheerful wave and pounces on top of the dog to incite a wrestling match. Gabe leaves them to it. Part of him cannot wait for school to start next week, although this year it's bittersweet. Jesse starts his first year at UCLA—the first time he'll be out of the house on the regular since he came to LA and into Gabe's life.
Gabe frowns to himself as he loads his supplies into his station wagon. He knows it'll be hard; Jesse is the one thing that kept him sane when his life and career blew up in his face six years ago. Pretending to be a stable adult had taken a monumental effort after everything he'd worked for had shattered around him. Without that driving goal, that need to keep Jesse from being sent back to a bleaker future in New Mexico, Gabe isn't sure where he'd be today. He just knows it would be nowhere good.
He knows he still isn't all right, despite somehow managing to keep the loudest circus in Pasadena in check. Sometimes the bitterness overwhelms him, making it a struggle to get out of bed with a black mood fogging his brain all day. Sleep can too easily be a pipe dream. The betrayal still cuts through his chest as if it were yesterday that his entire team turned their backs on him. If he ever sees anyone from his old unit again, he knows fireworks will be the least of it. And he can't bring himself to care.
So much for the past. Gabe forces himself to relax his grip on the steering wheel before he breaks it. Moving forward is the best and only option. And if part of that is letting Jesse grow up and move out, so be it. He puts the car in gear and that maxim into practice.
His docket for the day includes two more home visits (one goes perfectly, the second is a disaster) and surviving yet another soul sucking meeting before he's free. Plenty of time to put his plan into action and pay some special attention to the newest addition to their household.
Sombra's placement has been final for less than a year; she's still in the testing her boundaries phase. Gabe's thankful that she at least condescends to speak English now and again these days. One of her favorite subjects to harp on is the unfairness of the household distribution. If Jesse can have a dog, why can't she have a pet too? Gabe is almost one hundred percent certain she's just doing it to poke at his patience and likely doesn't know what to do with an actual animal.
That's why he's going with a cat to surprise her. Much easier to take care of.
He breezes through the local PetSmart and grabs everything the internet tells him is necessary—and then some. He then heads to the Pasadena Humane Society and stumbles across a glass display unit with a pack of kittens romping around. He pauses to watch them play in a jumble of colors and yowls, until a fuzzy black one with long gangly legs winds up and pounces on the whole lot of them. Then he tries chasing each one that scatters, tripping himself as he flops back and forth. Gabe chuckles. That's the one, busy being a little shit to his siblings. Should fit right in at the house.
He hands over the paperwork and a check in exchange for an armful of fur. The kitten looks him in the eye and reaches one long arm out to poke him in the nose as if to say, 'Yes, this is mine now.'
The house is blessedly quiet when he comes through the door. Jesse and Genji must have taken Peacekeeper out to try teaching him some more agility skills, cramming in as much as they can before Jesse leaves. Gabe leans around the door frame and sees Sombra curled up on the couch with her bright purple laptop. He knows better than to ask what's she doing, but it seems like she hasn't yet noticed him or his burden.
Perfect.
He ghosts up alongside her, plucks the computer from her lap and gently drops the purring fur ball in its place.
She stares at it. Then looks up and stares at him. He shrugs. "You said you wanted a pet." She blinks. Stares at the cat again who's now opening his eyes and yawning wide. He stretches his colt-like legs out to knead at her arm, apparently deciding he approves of his newest location. "He's your responsibility now," Gabe says and heads back out of the room.
He's almost to the door when he hears her murmur, "Gracias, Gabe." He waits until he's out in the hall to smile.
Then he hollers back over his shoulder, "Now get out here and help me unload the car!"