Finley spun around in circles in front of the mirror, clad in the sullied sheet that Ray had cut three holes in for her to wear. Her face had been painted sheer white and Seth had made sure to make her eyes shaded a little darker. She darted out of the room, the two adults trailing behind her. Down the stairs and into the kitchen, Finley latched onto Luka's leg, startling him.
"Finley! Don't do that," Luka chastised, clutching the knife in his hand a little tighter. Her tumbling into him nearly caused the blade to slip free. He paused mid-chop, eyes drifting down to get another good look at the child. "Who is the victim this time?"
"I'm going to scare daddy when he comes home!" she answered excitedly. Her small hands clasped onto the bottom of his jacket and slid her feet across the smooth floor so that she could swing around. "Hey Luka! Will you help me look more like a ghost?" She could always rope in the other leaders to her plans.
Luka hesitated, thinking about all the things he had to do before dinner. The list was extensive. He should tell her no, but… Fenrir had been playing a lot of tricks on him lately, even putting a bucket on top of a door to soak him when it fell. A little revenge would be fine. "Flour then? Is that what you're after?" Luka asked.
Her head bobbed up and down until her grip on his jacket slipped and she fell onto the floor. "And ketchup to look like blood! I wanna be really scary!" Finley replied, scrambling to get back up on her feet. She had taken his interest as willingness to help and went straight to the large bag filled with the powder she desired.
"Finley, wait!" Luka called out, but it was too late.
She tried to pick up the bag that was much too heavy. It lifted only slightly before slipping through her hands. The impact of that few inches was enough to make a flour cloud poof into the air and all over her. Finley coughed, trying to wave it away.
Ray and Seth were hovering around the door, bursting out laughing at her. "I don't think she knows what the word wait means, Luka," Ray commented. He had seen that coming the moment she had come in the room, since the child doesn't know when to let an adult do something for her.
Luka dusted the flour off his uniform and grabbed the broom to sweep up the mess. He smacked her lightly on the back of her legs with it. "Let me clean this up. I think you've succeeded in covering yourself in flour."
The powder cloud had settled onto the floor and counters, the air clearing. It revealed the huge mess that she had made. Finley patted her head and checked her hands for the white dust. A frown grew on her lips. "It's not enough. I want to look even more like a ghost!" She nearly knocked the dustpan out of his hand as she grabbed onto his sleeve. "Please! Please! Pretty Pretty Please!" Finley bounced up and down and said it over and over again.
"Okay, I hear you," Luka cut her off, already feeling drained from being around the ball of energy. He had never known her to be calm unless she had fallen ill. She was wired all day long. He scooped up a handful of flour and dropped it on her hair. "Better?"
A bright smile returned to her face and Finley bobbed her head in response. "Now I'm really a ghost!" She spun around to see Seth armed with the ketchup and bounded over to him. "Blood! Blood!" She chanted and waited impatiently for the condiment to be smeared onto the sheet. She swiped a small bit on her finger and swiftly ate it.
Ketchup and other condiments were put up high so that she couldn't reach them without help. On more than one occasion, one of the officers had caught her hiding in the kitchen in the early hours of the morning simply eating it straight out of the jar. For a time, a lock had been placed on all cupboards, but that had even failed. After the third time of her arm getting stuck and the meltdown she had when it happened, they had forgone the lock. The solution had been to move all pots and pans into the lower cupboards and the food to the higher ones.
Seth smiled brightly at her, wiping his hand on a napkin. "The scariest ghost I've ever seen!" He could hardly wait for their Ace to return home. Even if he preferred for Finley to be a little more girly, he did quite enjoy her wild side when it became entertainment.
"Better hurry, Fin. It's nearly time for Fenrir to return from patrols," Ray spoke up, eyeing the clock. He knew his buddy to be pretty much on time from his patrols since Finley had been born. Fenrir never shirked his duties, trusting the other officers to take care of her while he had to work, but he wanted to spend some time with her every day.
Finley set off toward her father's bedroom, excitement bubbling up in her. The best hiding spot was in the wardrobe. The rain would ensure he would need dry clothes to change into. Settling on the hard wood, she reached out to close the doors.
"You aren't afraid of anything are you?" Ray asked, shaking his head. The dark never scared her, neither did any kind of bug or animal. She loved thunder storms and always wants to watch the lightening.
"Nope," Finley answered, closing herself off. She giggled to herself and shifted back and forth, already growing bored with waiting. The room was quiet, save for Shu Shu sniffing around the bottom of her hiding spot and barking softly once. "Shh!"
The door handle jiggled, causing her to freeze. Shu Shu went back to barking, but this time at the door. The pitter patter of his paws on the floor was near the bedroom door. The door creaked as it swung open and Fenrir greeted his dog happily. "We'll find Finley and go out for a walk in a bit. How's that sound?" His footsteps came closer to the wardrobe. "First I need to—"
The moment the doors were open, Finley shouted, "BOO!"
Fenrir's heart nearly stopped, and he screamed a curse word in response. He'd stumbled back and fell back onto the floor. "Finley!" His eyes were wide with fright.
From somewhere in the hallways, Ray's voice called out. "Run while you can, Finley!"
Taking the advice, the girl climbed out, nearly teetering over as her feet hit the ground. She ran as fast as her little legs would carry her, out of the room and down the hallway. Rounding the corner to get to the staircase, she ran smack into someone's legs. Finley raised her head to see the Queen of Spades staring back at her. "Hi, Sirius," She said.
Sirius's eyes drifted down to the wet stain on his uniform pants from the ketchup on her sheet. "Why are you covered in flour and ketchup, Finley?" he asked, not the least bit surprised with the sight before him. It hadn't been the first, and surely wouldn't be the last.
"Umm," Finley glanced back in the direction she had come from, eyes wide at the trail of flour that led directly to her. "Umm." She wasn't sure what to tell him but glanced up at him. "Well I… Ray and Seth and Luka helped me to scare daddy."
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Sirius sighed. "Right. Why am I not surprised?" Of course, those three had been involved. It did amuse him that she had immediately thrown all the adults into the fire as well.
"And umm… He was chasing me," Finley whispered, turning to check again.
"You've made quite the mess, little lady," Sirius caught her attention with his loud words. He could see the slight fear of being in trouble, but he'd only been so stern as to give Fenrir the chance to get his revenge. He had to hide the smile behind his stoic expression as the Ace snuck up on the girl.
Fenrir snatched her up into his arms, receiving a well-earned squeal of fright from her. Then, his favorite sound in the whole world came from her. Finley began to laugh. He tossed her up in the air a little and caught her again. "Gotcha!" He cradled her against his chest and smiled down at her as she continued to giggle uncontrollably.
"You scared me too!" She grinned, and another fit of laughter took over. Unlike him, Finley quite enjoyed being scared.
"Alright Bug. Let's get you into a bath," he said. She was an absolute mess. It would take some time to scrub all that make up off her face. Carrying her all the way to the bathroom, Fenrir set her down and began to dust out the flour in her hair. If it got wet, it might cause problems.
Finley attempted more than once to escape his grasp, but he had a firm hold around her waist. The powder filled the air around them again and she whined, "It's out! It's all out!"
"It'll be worse if I don't get flour out first. I'm almost finished," Fenrir replied, not releasing the struggling child. Brushing through the short locks of hair one last time, he resigned himself to that being all she would allow. "Alright, arms up." Stripping her of the dirty items she had on, Fenrir put her in the bath.
Much to Finley's displeasure, the scrubbing wasn't finished. Fenrir set to work getting all the makeup off her skin. Scooping up water to wash away the most of it, he had to rub a little harder in places with the sponge. "I should have made Seth take it off," Fenrir sighed.
"Ouch! Is it all off? I want bubbles!" Finley scrunched her nose up but was more still than before.
"I much prefer my little freckled face Bug than having you all covered in makeup," He answered, relenting on the assault on her face. Retrieving the bubbles from the counter, he poured while she stirred up the suds. It had been a long day, and he typically enjoyed the rain, but coming home to this was the highlight of his day.
Finley ran her hands through the bubbles, scooping them up in her hands and blowing them at him. Another happy giggle escaped her lips.
"Did you have a good day while I was gone?" Fenrir asked, dropping down to one knee by the tub to wash her hair.
With a bob of her head, she replied, "Yeah. Luka made me lunch with lots of pickles and then Ray let me use the stamps on the papers. I didn't get it all over me." The pride in her voice at the small victory brought a smile to his lips. She even lifted her arms as proof, or to double check that she hadn't.
"Well, I'm very happy that you didn't use yourself as paper today."
Finley paused, mid-scoop of bubbles, and turned her head to look at him. "Are you mad that I made a mess?" She rarely got into actual trouble. A scolding every now and then, mostly from Sirius, but she still had to ask.
"No, of course not. I'm glad you had fun. It's okay to make messes as long as you clean them up afterwards." It would take both of them a while to clean up the flour mess in the hallway, but it wouldn't be right not to teach her to clean up after herself.
It only took a few more minutes for her to grow bored of the bath. Fenrir wrapped her tight in a towel after drying her hair as much as he could. The kid could rarely sit still for long periods of time. He noted the bruise on her forehead and ran his fingers across it. "What did you do to your head?"
"I ran into the desk in the office." It had been in her hurry earlier and it didn't hurt her anymore. She always had a bruise somewhere from her wild lifestyle.
"Why did you do that?" Fenrir asked with a grin. It didn't surprise him at all.
Finley shrugged her shoulders and spun around in a circle, nearly tumbling to the floor on the slick tile. "Are we going to take Shu Shu for a walk?" She had suddenly remembered his words from right before she scared him.
He had said that, hadn't he? Fenrir shook his head in response. "It's raining, and you've already had a bath. Tomorrow, okay? And I'll even let you play in the mud puddles." It was amusing to watch her expression drop and rise in a split second.
She threw her arms up and spun around again. "Mud puddles!"
"Let's get you dressed so we can go eat some dinner with the others," Fenrir said, opening the bathroom door. To his surprise, the white trail that had lined the hallway had disappeared. From around the corner, Sirius fussed at Seth and Ray, making the two accomplices aid in cleaning.
Fenrir walked behind his daughter, listening to her talk about finding Belle since she can't take Shu Shu out. He encouraged her to do that but be gentle with the cat. She could be a whirlwind and could accidently hurt the cat in her attempt to love it. Her face was alighted with happiness and in turn made it impossible for him to stop smiling.
"I love you, Finley," he said, interrupting her incoherent thought process about the cat.
Finley spun around and ran to him, throwing her arms around his leg. "I love you the mostest!" She was always most excited when he was around. During the days when he had to work, she could entertain herself and rarely complained about anything but boredom. But she smiled the brightest when she could be with him. Fenrir wanted to hold onto that feeling forever. Every day with his Bug was better than the last.