The backyard was overly decorated with classic oil lamps and large waxed candles, the kind that kept bugs away. There were wooden tables and benches scattered on the patio, the lawn was covered with people, and a large barbeque was stuck amidst the blissful ciaos. Tommy had brought up the idea of celebrating and Beatrix unknowingly agreed to it. Little did she know that when Tommy wanted to celebrate, he celebrated. It seemed like the entire fucking city of El Paso was invited; friends of friends of friends of Tommy.
Janeen, Joleen, and Erica came, of course to celebrate. They called the party a 'baby shower barbeque' but promised Beatrix they'd have a real baby shower at some point.
The tall blonde spent a good portion of the night receiving congratulations from strangers. She put on a warm smile and shook too many hands. Consciously she was beginning to grow distasteful of the event but subconsciously she loved the experience. She didn't see too much of Tommy as he was having fun playing cook over at the grill. There were burgers, hot dogs, veggie burgers, and barbequed chicken. Beatrix was sure by the time the night was over, she'd have to go up a dress size with how fat her ass was going too get. Well, at least her baby girl was enjoying the food.
The night only seemed to have just begun, when Beatrix tucked herself at a bench, alone. She wasn't meaning to be antisocial, but she needed room to breathe. Unfortunately breathing was not an option.
"Hey, Arlene," the voice was recognizable as Janeen's. Soon the tall blonde was joined by Janeen, Joleen, and Erica.
Janeen was grinning wide. Like her fellow girlfriends she was at fist agog about Arlene being pregnant with Tommy's kid, but soon the shock left and they were giddy. "Yeah, Tommy over does it sometimes," Janeen commented, taking in the blonde's appearance. "But, he does make a mean burger."
"Yes, I realized that after finishing my third," Beatrix admitted with a shake of her head.
Janeen laughed. "Eating is good for you seeing as you gotta eat for two now." Her eyes suddenly went wide. "Wow…two…ya know, we're all really happy for you and Tommy. Especially Tommy, I mean no offence, but I always thought he'd be the perfect dad he just had to find the right girl."
Beatrix smiled in Janeen's general direction at the compliment of sorts, but those sparkling blue eyes were looking past her to Tommy; who was amiably chatting away.
Both Erica and Joleen were beaming at Arlene. Just like Janeen, they were ecstatic about the news of Tommy and Arlene being parents. It had all happened a little fast, which was somewhat eyebrow raising...but in the end, it seemed so perfect all of that stuff didn't matter.
Erica nodded, "I was always hoping Tommy would have children...he's such a sweetie, and he loves kids," she placed a hand warmly on Arlene's forearm, "You should have seen him a couple months ago...when my friend Bonnie and her husband came to visit. They have two kids...a little boy and a little girl...I think Tommy spent more time playing with them then he did hanging out with us."
Joleen smiled in agreement, "Tommy's going to be a great dad...I'm really happy for both of you guys." She looked at the other two women, "And just imagine how beautiful this baby is going to be...oh my god...blonde hair and blue eyes all the way."
Meanwhile, Tommy was somewhat overwhelmed with playing barbeque king and at the same time socializing. Of course, he loved this sort of thing...and was enjoying every moment of it. He'd caught Arlene's eye a few times throughout the night and they'd exchanged brief wide smiles. But, there were just so many people there...
"Oh," Erica piped up, "You'd better watch out Arlene, Janeen here has already started shopping for baby stuff...for you...," she gave Janeen a sly smile, "I think Arlene's not the only one here who wants to have a baby..."
Joleen laughed, "Yeah...well...one of us at a time ok..."
Janeen stuck out her lower lip in a playful quiver. She turned to Arlene with a serious expression. "I was just passing by a store and I saw this adorable mother/daughter outfit…not that you are having a girl and all…or maybe a boy. Do you know this early?"
Beatrix shook her head slowly. "No, but I have that gut feeling it's going to be a girl. I read somewhere that with the pattern of morning sickness I've been having you can tell the sex of the baby."
The bubbly brunette settled hands on her thighs and continued in explanation, "Oh, well, anyway, I was passing by this store that had this cute mother/daughter outfit and I had to get it for you. And they had an adorable baby mobile."
Beatrix wasn't too sure on the matching outfits, as her style had its own uniqueness and she wasn't sure how it would look shared. She put on a wide smile of gratitude none the less. "That's very thoughtful of you Janeen."
Janeen wove a dismissive hand. "Nah, I love shopping for people."
The four women continued to chat, which was not exactly a hard task for them to do. They talked mostly of Arlene's pregnancy, Tommy, their jobs...nothing too deep or in depth. This wasn't one of those type of celebrations where most people went beyond discussing the normal sorts of things. Most people were happy to just drink their cheap beer, eat barbeque and chat with friends.
After about twenty minutes, Tommy managed to wander over to the group of four women. He sat down next to Arlene on the picnic bench she was perched on, and put his arm around her shoulders. He felt bad having been missing in action most of the evening. "You gals have been sitting here talking for a suspicious amount of time..." he said with wide grin.
"That's right Tommy," Joleen replied with a coy look, "We're conspiring with your woman here."
"With my woman eh?" he chuckled, squeezing Arlene's shoulders, "Well, leave some of the conspiring for me," he added, eyes bright.
"Oh, of course Tommy," Erica replied, snapping down on a potato chip.
"Aw, no," Janeen suddenly whined. She had been acting so bubbly and enthusiastic the whole evening it was a surprise to see the brunette suddenly loose it. Brows raised in her direction as she hunched over on the table. "Why'd you have to invite him?" Emphasis was put on the 'him' and in Tommy's general direction.
Tommy gave Janeen a quizzical look and Beatrix's brows furrowed in curiosity as well as bewilderment. "Invite whom?"
"Jack," the way Janeen spoke the name didn't give Beatrix a friendly aura.
"Jack was trying to get Janeen to go out with her for the past two years. He evidently gave up last spring but he's been pining ever since," Erica explained to the tall blonde quaintly.
Beatrix's lips formed an 'oh' expression which steadily slipped into a sly smile.
"I don't know why you're still friends with him Tommy," Janeen continued to complain. "He's so full of himself and he has the worst sense of humor."
"Hey now," Tommy's smile faded, "Jack's my best friend...best guy friend at least. He's a good guy really...," he looked at Arlene, wanting to be able to convince her more than anybody, since the other women obviously already had opinions of him that weren't going to be changed anytime soon. "He's a good guy Arlene," he said. Tommy was just one of those people that had a hard time not liking anybody.
"I think he's kinda a dick," Joleen quipped crudely, "Sorry Tommy...but the thing with Janeen was just ridiculous...I mean, it was obvious she didn't like him. And he's not as funny as he thinks he is."
"And how could anybody not like Jack?" Erica added sarcastically.
"Don't listen to them Arlene," Tommy said, giving the other women a rather soft glare, "I've already told Jack all about you Arlene. He's been away for the past few weeks...and man," he chuckled, "….was he surprised to find out what had happened while he was away. He really wants to meet you."
Joleen put on a face but didn't say anything.
"Oh…I'd love…" But Beatrix was abruptly caught off when this supposed 'Jack' came to the table. He was Tommy's age and held a lot of the same physical characteristics. He was of normal height, not overly tall but not short. He had a fine chiseled face with some stubble on his chin and along his side burns in effort to appear cool, clean but still unruly locks of brown hair in a buzz type cut. He held an all out nice and somewhat boyish appearance. He was wearing a pair of loose fitting jeans, a navy blue t-shirt with some type of hype logo on it, a baggy black zip-up hoodie to go over it, and a pair of Nike sneakers. If Beatrix hadn't heard such snide remarks about him previously she would have thought him to be a relatively nice guy. Well, maybe he was.
"Hey Tommy!" Jack said in a soft but enthusiastic tone of voice as he approached the group. He stopped at the edge of the table and gave off a wide smile. He tipped his head to Janeen, who in return brushed him off. He turned away un-phased to let his emerald green eyes grace the table. "Oh, hey," he stuttered slowly as his attention settled on Arlene who Tommy still had an arm around. "You must be Arlene." Jack stared at the tall blonde for a little too long.
Beatrix cleared her throat in a nonchalant manner and replied lightly, "That I am. And you must be Jack…I've heard such…nice things about you."
Jack let out a good natured chuckle. "Nice things? Not from these gals. But, yeah, hey," he shifted his eyes to Tommy and gave him a thin grin. "Man, you can sure pick 'em. She's adorable."
Joleen and Erica remained silent, both looking at Jack with slightly forced smiles. Neither of them had as strong a reaction to him as Janeen, but they weren't exactly jumping up to hug him either. Jack was pretty cute...but sometimes he was just a little too much into himself for either of their tastes.
Tommy chuckled, "Well, Jack...it was more like she picked me," he glanced at Arlene with a warm look, "But...ya know...I couldn't be happier with her choice. Now, come on, sit down," Tommy scooted over on the bench to make room for his friend. Likewise, Erica suddenly decided to join Joleen and Janeen on the opposite bench, "More room for ya Jack..." she added with a smile.
"So...Arlene, Jack and I go back sometime...," Tommy began causally, not caring if the other women cared much for him or not. "He thinks he knows more about music than I do, but," Tommy gave his friend a friendly little buddy punch, "….we all know the truth on that one. But...Jack beats me at hoops every time...so maybe we're even."
"Very important aspects of life," Joleen piped up dryly, not being able to help herself.
Tommy just ignored that and continued on talking to his friend, "Arlene here has learned so much about music in the last two weeks...I've been amazed... I bet she could out trivia even you Jack."
"And maybe even beat him at hoops," Erica added with a nod of her head.
This time Tommy did laugh, "Perhaps."
"Now that I'd like to see..." Joleen agreed, "After what she did in that bar..." she stopped, realizing maybe that was too far. "Uh...yeah..."
Jack became curious. He was leaning forward on the table, arms folded on the top to get a view of everyone. "Did what at the bar?"
"She beat the shit out of some guy," Janeen answered in a slightly snotty tone, but did seem rather impressed by the whole bar thing and wasn't embarrassed to bring it up. Luckily Beatrix wasn't that embarrassed by it either, but she did play a tad shy to the subject.
"It was nothing," she assured gently. "These two guys were trying to fuck with me and I taught them to watch whom they try to fuck with. That's it."
Jack was staring at the tall blonde agog. "Damn, I sure woulda liked to have seen that. A chick beating up some drunk jackass. That had to be cool."
Janeen rolled her eyes to Arlene. "As you can see Jack has a somewhat…dark and unclean sense of what is cool."
"Hey, it's not my fault if I like watching wrestling every now and then, or one a those gore-festive kung fu movies," Jack contradicted her with a sneer.
Thus this did catch the blonde's attention and sparks set off in those blue eyes. "You watch kung fu movies?" She questioned cautiously.
"Hell yeah, I love 'em. Watching those bald dudes beat the shit out of one another with those awesome moves and sword fightin'. Hacking off body parts and watching the blood spurt up like a water fountain. It's real neat."
"Yeah, Jack wants to go off and kill people," Janeen teased in a bitterly sarcastic undertone.
Jack scowled at her and wove a dismissive hand gesture. "No way. I'd never try that stuff out myself. It's way too cliché. Anyone that tries that kung fu stuff is a real ass, it's made for television and should stay there. Besides, I'm not about to shave my head and wear a robe," he chuckled at his obviously not funny joke.
Beatrix found it insulting and turned her eyes away from him in a huff.
"What I say?"
"You were just being your usual idiotic self," Janeen clarified curtly. "Don't take it personally Arlene. He doesn't understand what he's saying half the time anyway."
Jack stuck out a pouty lip in Janeen's direction and crossed his arms over his chest. "So, Tommy," he turned to his friend. "You're gonna be a daddy, huh?" To change the subject he put on dashingly charming smile, which one had to admit was rather charming.
"Uh...yeah," Tommy replied a little absently to his friend's question, his eyes focused on Arlene. He wasn't sure why Arlene had reacted that way. Sure, Jack wasn't all that funny...but he'd just been joking around about stupid TV kung fu stuff...nothing big. Tommy shrugged; letting it go. He wasn't the type of guy to stick on things for too long. "Yup," he turned back to his dark haired friend, "...gunna be a daddy. I always wanted to be...but," he chuckled good naturedly, "...I just didn't know it was going to happen so soon." He gave Arlene another reassuring shoulder squeeze, attempting to kindly put a smile on her currently unsmiling face.
Joleen and Erica had remained silent; Jack's stupid antics about 'cool kung fu moves n' stuff' not really interesting either of them. Joleen was going to add that Jack would look like a complete ass in a robe anyways, but she decided not to voice that. What they both thought was cool was Arlene's moves at the bar...now that was cool...not some macho ass kung fu asshole guy in a movie...and even worse...wrestling! Augh. What Arlene had done was real, and they both were pretty impressed. Like most modern women, they loved the whole 'woman empowerment' movement. Jack could strut all he wanted, but they all knew Arlene was far tougher. Little did they know the full extent of that.
Tommy was fully onto the 'daddy' topic now, "I really don't care if it's a boy or a girl...I love both...I mean, all men love the idea of having a son...I'll admit it, ya know...playing catch with them and everything...but daughters are so adorable...and Arlene would have such a beautiful daughter," he smiled at the blonde with obvious affection.
Beatrix smiled back with the same dose of affection. She casually leaned into Tommy and forgot her past feeling of being morose and became more composed.
"Arlene thinks it's gonna be a girl," Janeen said with a wide grin. It seemed the topic of 'baby' eased the tension that had conspired around the table.
Beatrix took a small note to how quickly the hostility had evaporated and that in itself was amazing to her. She smiled sheepishly and her pretty blonde head tilted down. "It's just one of those gut feelings, but a boy is just as nice."
"Damn, boy or girl it's gonna be fine looking," Jack insisted with a toothy smile. "You guys got any name ideas yet?"
The tall blonde shifted blue eyes to Tommy in brief bafflement and when receiving the same vibe from her companion she gave a half shrug and looked to Jack. "As any mother to be I've picked out my favorites, but we haven't talked about it."
"If it's a boy you should name it Jack, after your good pal," Jack joked beaming as if he was completely serious about the idea.
Janeen laughed. "Yeah, right. That's the last thing they'll name it. I think they should name it Scott, if it's a boy, and Rachel, if it's a girl."
Beatrix had a subtle smirk etched across her angelic features from Jack's previous name proposal. She pursed her lips. "Actually, I was thinking, if it's a girl. We may name her Beatrix." Hell, if she couldn't keep her birth name at least someone could. And after hating the name for so many years as a younger child, she now grew to find her 'real' name unique and it grew on her.
No one seemed to feel the same way, or she got that by the strange raising of eyebrows. "That's…an…interesting choice," Jack slowly commented.
"Beatrix?" Joleen's eyebrows knitted, "I dunno Arlene...that sounds like the kind of name that parents would give their daughter while high or something..."
"I like...," Erica butted in, before Joleen could insult Arlene's 'real' name any further, "...Victoria for a girl...it's very regal...or Amilie...that's pretty..."
Tommy was watching all of this in silence, looking a little overwhelmed. Ever since hearing the news of Arlene's pregnancy he'd felt somewhat overwhelmed...but he was doing better taking one thing at a time. Still, when faced with a barrage of names, he couldn't help but want to crawl in the corner and let them decide for themselves. Yet, he knew he and Arlene saw eye to eye and would come to a decision on their own, without much bickering involved. They didn't bicker...well, they hadn't yet...and he liked that. He didn't like fighting...it was far too exhausting.
"No..no...," Joleen was cutting Erica's name monologue off, "For girls that fine...but boys...you've gotta go back to the basics. Ya know, good old American boy names...John...Eric. Or hey," she turned to Arlene, "always remember the thing about lots of boys names...how you can make them cute and short when they are young and when they grow up they can make them more manly again...ya know...like
Robert...Rob..Bobby...or...William...Billy..Bill...stuff like that. That way it's like..three or four names in one."
Erica rolled her eyes, "Boring..."
"Better than calling your son...Horatio or something...poor kid," Joleen retorted with a smirk.
"No," Beatrix curtly cut in before they could go on with more 'cute and short' names. "We are not naming him William, Billy….or….Bill," the name rolled off her tongue distastefully but strongly.
"I kinda liked Bill," Jack admitted with a shrug of his shoulders.
Beatrix shot him a deafly glare. "We aren't naming it Bill."
"Sheesh, okay," Jack reached over to steal a sip from Joleen's beer bottle, but received a firm slap and retracted his hand quickly.
"I kinda liked Bill too," Janeen said slowly and cautiously to the tall blonde. "What's the matter with that name? Remind you of some guy you may have had fun with and turned out to be real shitty in bed?"
This made the tall blonde laugh lightly and she shook her head slowly. "No, that's my…father's name…and he wouldn't want the kid named that." Thank God she knew it was a girl and she wouldn't have to worry about that type of shit. She still was set on naming her baby Beatrix, or something close too it. Deep down she was laughing that Joleen managed to catch on that her name was indeed given while her mother was high. It sure as hell was no Greek Goddess' name. Blue eyes sparked with a hidden anguish, but it quickly dissipated as long white fingers stroked at Tommy's hand idly. He seemed a tad ill at ease. "Well," she assured with a warm smile. "We have plenty of time to think about names."
Tommy returned the smile, easily losing the unease that had clouded over him before as his hand wrapped around Arlene's, "Yes...thank God...," he turned to the surrounding friends, "...we appreciate the name help guys...but I'm sure we'll figure it out...when we're ready for that."
"Well," Erica folded her hands on the picnic table, "...if you need our help...you know where to find us," she smiled.
"That's right," Joleen nodded, "And you will have at least three instant babysitters whenever you two want to go out and have some time together...I can't speak for Jack on that one of course.." she eyed Tommy's dark haired friend. "But, somehow I don't think Jack's the ideal babysitter."
"Hell no," Erica added, finishing off her beer.
The conversation turned to other things: what Jack had been up to, Joleen's job, Janeen's shopping, the record store...El Paso. Eventually the evening wound down. Everybody had had their share of barbeque, beer and chips. Slowly, people began to say their good byes one by one and went home to sleep off the excess of the night.
The weekend was over, and like most normal working people, they'd had a good time with friends, some drinks, a few good laughs, and tomorrow it was back to the routine of the work week. Such was the way of a typical lifestyle.
At last it was just Tommy and Arlene, the parents to be, in the twilight of the backyard. They happily went inside to be alone.
The absence of Beatrix Kiddo from Bill's life had now reached one month...eight weeks...four fortnights...well...however you put it, it didn't' make any damn difference...she was still gone, and not coming back; that was for certain at this point.
Bill had had his little moment of borderline sentimental memento two weeks ago, burying her sword in middle of a Mexican desert. It was an attempt to put some closure to the whole thing...but he knew it had only been an attempt, and a partially futile one at that. He also knew that no amount of silly ceremonies or stoic farewells were going to make him forget a woman like Beatrix, but the symbolism of the whole thing had helped, at least a little. He'd stopped the chronic binging in exchange for more subtle and private mourning...that often still involved getting pretty fucked up. But, no longer was he found stumbling around his cluttered living room with a beard and a bottle of Jack.
Within days of this change, Bill had cleaned up his house, his appearance and in turn his life; well at least as clean as murdering bastard could be. When he was alone, at night...then he could allow himself to be a wreck, but now in the open...he was beginning to return to that insufferable bastard that everybody knew and secretly loved. It was not an easy or pleasant road to recovery, but it was the road he was on if he wanted to be or not.
He knew he had to face the music. Beatrix was dead. He hated the thought, but he also hated the thought of himself in ruin for the rest of his life over her. He had to move on...in some form or another. He started to reminisce more on the good times they'd had; which often included not your typical 'good' memory type of situations: arguments...lots of them...being so pissed at her that he seriously wanted to kill her...her being cruel to him….and visa versa. He now thought on those with a smirk and affectionate glint, well along with the really 'good' stuff too of course.
So, along with Bill's slow return to evil, the DiVA's workload began to grow. There were a great deal of assignments and Bill wasted no time in getting them finished. On this particular afternoon Elle and Budd had just returned from a partnered assignment. They'd shown up to do the usual follow up with Bill.
As was typical, they were all sitting around the popular living room bar area. Bill sat across from them, wearing a black button up shirt, hair slicked back...all widows peak and frown looking both menacing and relatively complacent. He listened silently as they both filled him in about the assignment, his ringed hands folded on the marble counter top.
Budd and Elle were seated across from him on either stool. Budd was wearing his typical attire of baggy jeans and a button up 'loud' blue shirt. Over the past two weeks Budd had endured the slow recovery his brother was going through. At times Budd thought he was helping Bill go through a detox. But in a way he was. A detox of self pity and coming to terms with the fact that the woman he loved was dead. It wasn't easy, but successfully and with a great deal of torment on Budd's side, Bill was becoming 'normal'.
As any loving and devoted sibling during that first month he shared in Bill's anguish. As cliché as it sounded, he felt it. He shared in Bill's indescribable distress that Beatrix was dead, but he was more upset that Beatrix went and got herself killed to begin with. During setting up for an assignment (Budd and Elle had paired up two times during the two weeks), the cowboy learned he wasn't the only one upset with Beatrix for keeling over. He was also angry, and he only realized he was angry when Elle so outwardly told him…or demonstrated this to him.
Elle and Budd hadn't gotten closer during this time, but out of all the DiVAS they were the most supportive to Bill's case. Sure, O-Ren helped, but after their fling during the meeting in the middle of the month, O-Ren and Bill hadn't been on close terms and she was becoming more distant with her frequent trips to Tokyo. Something was up, but as usual she remained mute on the topic. And Vernita, she couldn't care less, or that was the vibe Elle and Budd received, not that they cared what she thought.
So, that left the two of them. As different as the two killers were at least they saw eye-to-eye, literally, on the topic of Bill.
Budd shifted in his stool. "Got a bad bump on the head though….still given me a head ache and all. But I shot the ass down and Elle backed me up."
"Hrm, well a few bumps and bruises never stopped you before Budd," Bill replied, reaching for a cup of tea, which was something of a pleasant surprise compared to his choice of beverages as of late. "And Elle...good job with the backup."
"Thank you Bill," Elle replied sweetly, smiling. Like Budd, Elle felt a little like she'd endured part of whatever Bill's little hell had been. And that wasn't because she gave a damn about Beatrix, it was because….as it was painfully obvious, she gave more than a damn about Bill. Elle was pissed that she didn't get to kill Bea...but oh well, she was dead and out of the way, that's all that really mattered.
Having to deal with Bill the past few weeks had been real shitty...to put it mildly. He'd been exceptionally cruel to her...even for him, and she'd had her feelings hurt on more than one occasion. But, secretly she forgave him. He'd had a pretty hard time she supposed, and she was willing to give amends for that; even if she thought what he was so upset about was dumb as hell.
Likewise, she'd been around Budd a lot...and, it wasn't entirely terrible. Oh, it was still bad for sure, but he had been far better to be around than the others. She certainly wasn't about to find him suddenly attractive...or like sleep with him or anything so vile as that. She still thought he was a disgusting piece of shit, but...he was alright to go on assignments with. And...if anything, they had Bill in common. And during the past few weeks, that had been an important topic of concern. They both gained happiness as they watched Bill slowly crawl out of his self dug grave.
Elle pursed her red painted lips, leaning on the counter, "You could consider the assignment a complete success Bill," she drawled, snatching up an almond out of a small bowl of munchies that had been set out on the bar and crunched down on it loudly, "Your brother is more competent than he looks."
"Yes, I do agree with that," Bill replied, smirking in Budd's direction, "While, on the other hand, I look as competent as I am." The ego was beginning to shine again.
Elle snorted, "Yeah...well...that was up for debate two weeks ago…."
Bill raised his brows, making a small 'Mrm,' noise and going back to his tea without a word either way. Of course, Elle was right, but he wasn't going to outwardly admit it.
Budd gave Elle a questionable look before he slid off the stool and made a slow trudge around the bar to his destination, the beverage department. He opened the fridge and leaned forward to do a skim through. "Gotta admit it, Bill," Budd's muffled voice rang out from within the confides of the fridge. He poked his head out with a lopsided grin. "I didn't think you'd ever come back to being an egotistical asshole." He emerged from the fridge with one of those shitty flavored water drinks. Vernita had been into them and thus, awhile back Bill had stocked up on some. Why Budd was drinking one? It was too early for anything else, but then again, when had it been too early for Budd to drink? Well, he just felt like it.
He flashed his brother a dopey smile and came back to his stool with drink in hand. "Ya know, I mean that in the kindest way." Budd felt it was a priority to let Bill realize how much of an asshole he had been the past month. Of course, they weren't going to plain out and criticize him about it. That would be death, but slowly dishing it out worked just as well. Besides, they weren't going to let this one go away not discussed or at least pointed at, because it was too in depth to just forget about all that was done in the past month.
Bill watched his brother with an intense look, remaining silent for a few long moments, "Yes...well," he pushed his tea cup away from him, apparently finished with it, "...when one is as much a megalomaniac as myself, it's tough to simply forget about it."
Elle sneered; megalomaniac, perfect. Leave it to Bill to find the perfect word for himself and then use it so brazenly. She eyed Budd's water, and suddenly decided she wanted one as well. She slid off her stool and went over to refrigerator. "Still," she spoke up reaching into the fridge, "...that's a lame justification..."
"For what?" Bill raised a brow.
Elle emerged with the prissy looking water bottle, "For treating us the way you did," she said a little softly. Ok, so she'd taken the plunge with that.
Bill's intense gaze was now turned onto Elle, "When did I ever say I had to justify myself to anybody?" He said this rather calmly, which was a good sign, a month ago and he would have gone postal after that question.
"Well," Elle stammered, not one to stand up very well to Bill, "I...well...Budd...and I.."
Bill's lip twisted, "What do you want me to do Miss Driver...kiss both of your asses? Give the two of you big ol' fucking gold star stickers? Raises?" He shook his head, "No...I don't think so...and likewise your not going to get any form of an apology from me...no matter if you feel it is required or not." He frowned, "You know I don't apologize," he added in a soft deadly tone.
Elle looked somewhat bashful, as she fiddled with the cap of her water bottle, "Maybe...a …..thank you then, or-"
"You both have my respect, that's more than enough," Bill replied with finality; completely cutting Elle off.
Elle frowned; at times...she highly doubted even that. Bill respected Bill...and Bill had respected Beatrix, Elle was a little unsure about anybody else at the moment. But that wasn't fair at all...and it made Elle angry. With some effort, she forced that down; her eye downcast on the countertop in an attempt to not betray any emotion in Bill's direction, he could so easily pick up on that sort of thing.
"Don't be upset with me Elle," Bill spoke up with a little more compassion, not one to be fooled, "What's happened has happened...we...all of us need to just forget the past...," He glanced at his brother, "...because we can't change it...and can't do a damn thing about it."
Budd caught the glance in his direction. Unlike Elle he was considerably pleased with the simple fact that Bill gave them his respect. He wasn't asking for a thank you or a fucking gold star, but acknowledgement of what they did and since he had it Budd was content. He wasn't sure how long that given respect was going too last, there had been times in earlier years when they were younger that Bill 'gave him respect' and it never lasted.
A momentary silence was broken by a belch, which Budd held back. No one ever said he had the best mannerisms in the world. He received a scowl from Bill and a side glare from the one-eyed-bitch. He remained oblivious and took a slug of his flavored water; which tasted pretty damn good considering it was cherry flavored.
"Now, see, I can't think that forgettin' the past is always the best way too go," the cowboy leveled a steady gaze on Bill. "There's some shit you're gunna wanna remember." Unlike Bill, Budd never liked the idea of completely forgetting things. There was always a justification to what one did, and no matter how much that person forgot that something it wouldn't change the impact it left behind.
Bill on the other hand was easy to dismiss things: like the hundreds of people he'd killed, the countless others who were affected by those deaths, all those he'd been intolerably cruel to, women he'd completely fucked over, property he'd destroyed and the millions of dollars that it had cost...but they weren't his dollars, nor in the end, his problems. He destroyed and others were left to deal with the mess left behind. That was Bill, the sociopath. Beatrix had been the only person who had come close to completely tipping that scale, but in the end...Bill was still Bill. Perhaps, someday...something would come along that would once again work to change that, but at this moment, he was completely unaware of what that something might be.
"Of course Budd," Bill replied to his brother, in a rather patronizing tone...as if he was speaking to a child or somebody of...slower mental capabilities, "I wasn't being entirely literal."
Elle scowled, it sure sounded like he had been to her. She wasn't so bothered at Bill's treatment of Budd...well, simply because she treated Budd pretty bad too; it was just so easy to do with a shithead like him.
Bill leaned forward on the barstool, "I'm not in denial Budd, if that's what you think," he plucked up a large almond from the nearby bowl and idly studied it, "How...I was...recently…….was not the wisest time of my life."
Elle barely stopped a 'not shit' from blurting out of her pursed lips.
"But," Bill pointed at Budd, suddenly intense, "...that does not mean I owe any sort of explanation for what I did. Nor does it suddenly qualify me to become a hazy eyed sentimentalist of the past. The past is past Budd..." he looked like he was going to keep going on some typical Bill-esque monologue, but instead changed his mind and crunched down menacingly on the almond as he tossed into his mouth. He flashed Budd a wide 'holier than thou' grin and leaned back; looking haughtier than ever.
"Well," Elle threw her hands up, "...there ya have it. Personally, I don't give a shit either way." Typical Elle.
Budd looked away from Bill to cast Elle a glance that simply read; 'of course you give a shit'. He knew she caught it. He soon after decided to grab a handful of almonds, as everyone seemed to be munching down on them. He stuffed a wad in his mouth and chewed. There was nothing great about them; the almonds, tasted like a typical nut.
As long as he was aware that Bill wasn't in denial he felt a little better. Although that didn't mean that Bill was lying. Bill lied, but he was no pathological liar. He idly bought a hand up and using the stub of his forefinger finger nail he began picking out the remains of masticated almond particles from in between his teeth.
Once through he looked up and said, "Well, Bill, all I got is that I'm glad you're comin' back to your…typical…self."
Bill shot his brother a banal look, as Budd oh so typically picked food out of his teeth. Somehow...somewhere...Budd had never quite embraced the more couth demeanor his older brother. One could normally blame this on parents often innocent mixed treating of older vs. younger siblings...but in the case of Bill and Budd...that just didn't exactly apply.
Bill pursed his lips, moving on from that thought; that was old news with Budd. "Well," he said softly, "...I suppose that is the case then." And that was that, Bill had put the end to that conversation. He stood up, already moving onto a different task. He invited Budd and Elle to hang out while he worked if they so desired, but neither of them found that all that appealing; which Bill certainly found understandable. At least this time they left on far better terms than the previous number of times.
Bill wasn't just lying to get rid of Budd and Elle; he did have a number of things to do...one of them included attempting to choose a new member for the Deadly Viper Association. Bill despised the thought of "replacing" Beatrix, but it was becoming fairly clear that they needed somebody else to take over the workload that should have belonged to the Black Mamba. He could only work the others so much without some major protest. A new member was needed...and fairly quickly.
Doing his best to put aside any sort of "replacement" thoughts, Bill retired to his back room and set out to widdle down the rather lengthy list of candidates he had made a few days prior. A large stack of folders sat on his desk, and he once again went through them with a professional and highly critical eye.
Throughout his years in the contract killing business, which was...much to Bill's horror, going on almost forty years, he had established a great amount of contacts. It wasn't until he started the Deadly Vipers that he really got organized with his information, but by then he already had a huge list of resources to start out with. Now, that list had nearly quadrupled.
As was known, Bill was a nitpicker of human nature and he was brutal with this in his assessments of those in his files...just as he often was in reality. Using his own attached notes, he was able to cut the amount of candidates in half right away, on the grounds that they were either, "unacceptable", "unqualified", "undesirable" or just simply "fucking assholes" Then, he cut the remaining number in half because they were no longer living...he tossed those aside with a dark smirk.
Still, he was left with a good sized stack; which he was now getting to at this point. This required further scrutiny. He had to really ask himself what type of killer he wanted to once again fill out the squad. He realized, with a pang of regret, that he didn't really want somebody too young and inexperienced. He'd been down that road a number of times...and he'd enjoyed it thoroughly; molding and shaping somebody...teaching them...being their mentor, their teacher. But, he couldn't do that...not right now. The loss of his favorite pupil was still too daunting. No, he wanted somebody experienced...not so fresh faced and wide eyed...a little jaded, but not overly so. He wanted somebody he could just plug in and be fairly confident that they would pick up on things quickly. They needn't be all around perfection, that was a rarity anyways. But, nonetheless, they had to be damn good...and he was a goddamn hard man to impress.
Nevertheless, with these criteria in mind, he was able to shorten the pile of folders once again. Now, only a stack of eight remained...two men...six women. Bill had to be honest with himself, he preferred women...not just because he preferred them all around, but he believed they made better killers. Paco had taught that to him...many, many years ago...and Bill still held to it. Women possessed a viciousness rarely paralleled in men.
Men were easier made killers perhaps, but women had more style, more grace...and in the end, often because of their sway over men, more power. Women had always played a large part in Bill's life: they'd coddled him, drove him crazy, made him extremely happy, made him extremely unhappy, inspired him, made him lots of money, and as it turns out...nearly ruined him. Despite his sometimes charming, smooth talking, old school, misogynistic ways...he had a very deep respect for women.
Realizing with a smirk that he'd drifted off thinking about women, Bill tossed aside the two folders for the male candidates. Alright, so he was a biased misogynist, so be it. That left six, and he took his time looking over every folder, every detail; age, previous employment, weapons of choice, criminal history, availability of employment, desired payment and so on and so forth. He had photos of some, but not all...and there was nothing disappointing in those that were there.
It was going on over two hours of carefully going over these six folders. It was never said that Bill didn't put a lot of thought into things. At this point though, his back was starting to ache from sitting hunched over his desk. He rubbed the bridge of his nose in an attempt to dissuade the headache that was slowly taking over...for once; it wasn't from a hangover either.
Finally, deciding he'd done enough on this subject for today...he set aside three of the six; once again brutally splitting it in half. Neatly stacking the three remaining folders on his desk, he slowly stood up and turned to another set of far less interesting paperwork.
By tomorrow he'd make up his mind on the new DiVA.