Ariana knew that the job she had been given was well above her station. She was still just a Grunt, despite almost a year with the organisation. She was in no way qualified for the task but it had been given to her by the Boss himself and she wasn't stupid enough to reject such an offer. The task was simple, probably the simplest job a Rocket could have, but she accepted the position humbly and without complaint.
"Oh, look at you, baby," she cooed softly. She had forgotten how old little Silver was – the Boss didn't have time for details about his son – but she knew he was somewhere around eighteen months. The boy stared up at her with his grey eyes and blinked. He hadn't been awake for very long. "I'm sorry I haven't been here for a while, but your Dad decided to give me a break and I got to do some of those fun little crimes that we get up to when the police aren't watching."
Ariana reached over the bars of the boy's crib and lifted him up and over. Tiny fingers ran over her nose as Silver recognised her face, her hair, her smell. He made a string of noises and Ariana laughed softly. "You need a bath, don't you? If I know the others half as well as I think I do, they wouldn't have given you one for days, would they?" She walked out of the room with the boy in her arms, listening as he talked nonsense to himself.
xxxxx
"No, no, we've been through this before," she smiled. "They go in your mouth, not your hair." Ariana sighed and wiped Silver's fingers clean. "See what happens when they send me out to do the dirty work? I forget to feed you before your bath." The boy just reached for another handful of peas.
Ariana picked up her own fork again and continued to eat from the plate in front of her. She smiled at Silver and made faces at him once in a while – he responded by trying to imitate her expressions. "Are you ever going to be a heartbreaker when you're older. Heir to Team Rocket, those gorgeous eyes and no doubt you'll be a smooth talker just like your daddy," she said. "Unfortunately for you, I don't think the ladies go for the 'peas in the hair' look, so you need another bath."
xxxxx
Laughter echoed through the room as Ariana launched a furious tickle attack on Silver's stomach. After two baths, a meal and almost an hour of running around the house just because they could, the boy was exhausted. She was worried about putting him to bed so soon after his nap but when he'd walked into the table and started to cry, she knew that it wasn't really a choice anymore. "Oh, you think that's funny? Does it tickle?" she asked. "Okay, now it's bedtime for you."
She picked Silver up from the floor and lifted him back into his crib. He looked at her, the confusion obvious in his eyes. "Don't give me that look, you know I can't just give in," she sighed. "Goodnight, baby." Ariana ran a finger over his cheek and fixed his blanket. He didn't cry when she pulled the door around; it was open, just enough, for her to hear him if he stirred. She went back to the living room and sat alone on the couch, the TV her only company. She closed her eyes for a moment, just a quick moment, just long enough to gather her thoughts.
xxxxx
Ariana didn't know what time it was when she woke up, all she knew was that the television had been turned off and there was someone sitting on the couch with her.
"You fell asleep."
"Sorry Boss," she squeaked.
"Was he too difficult for you to deal with?"
"No. I'm just tired."
"Am I giving you too much to do?"
"No."
"You can sleep there. You only need to come back in the morning anyway."
"Yes Boss," she said and felt the weight shift from by her feet.
If she'd been anyone else, Ariana knew that she would have been forcibly removed not only from the building but from Team Rocket as well. But for so many reasons she was the exception to the rule, and she knew it. Even such a brief conversation with the Boss left her shaken, unable to get back to sleep, so she simply waited. She waited for the morning, for the noise of the Boss leaving again, for the noise of Silver babbling a string of letters that sounded oddly like her name.
