A Family to Go Home To

The rain was pouring down outside the van that he had been tucked away in the the last three hours while he waited for signs of movement from inside the warehouse. So far there was nothing. He could be there for another three hours or they could move in the next five minutes. He hated the waiting game, and it didn't help that he had to share the van with Matias Solomon. The only good thing was that he had dozed off a few minutes before in the seat next to him, finally stopping the nonstop monologue that made the other man want to shove him out the door and into the mess that was pouring down outside.

Tom shifted in the seat and pulled out his cell phone, holding it up so he could watch the entrance and see the video playing on the dimmed screen at the same time. Agnes' smiling face appeared, her smile bright. Liz reached one hand out to hold the phone and record their daughter's beautiful laugh. A smile tilted Tom's lips at the corners and only grew as Liz spoke. He couldn't hear the words this time, as the phone was muted, but he'd played the video dozens of times over since he'd gotten it the night before.

"Look there, Agnes. Look here. Say hi Daddy. We miss you."

"Well isn't that precious?"

Tom's gaze snapped over to Solomon who was no longer sleeping, but grinning like the Cheshire Cat. He narrowed a glare on him, but that didn't seem to sway his amusement.

"What? Am I not allowed to acknowledge that your daughter is adorable? I'm actually quite good with children you know."

"Oh yeah. Poisoning kids to get their relatives to comply makes you an in-demand babysitter," Tom grumbled.

"That child was never in any danger. Her grandfather did exactly what I needed to, just as I knew he would," Solomon answered cheerfully and his reluctant partner snorted.

"Just stay the hell away from the people I love, got it?"

He fixed his gaze back on the unmoving door, ignoring the lingering look Solomon was giving him. Finally, the other man chuckled. "And how many people have you kept from their loved ones? Someone's father, brother, sister? You're no saint, Keen. Don't pretend you're any better than me. We just go at the job a bit differently."

Tom's jaw clenched a little, his mind calling up faces of people that Solomon was referring to. He couldn't change the past, only the present and the future, and he had promised himself when he took this job that he wouldn't let himself backslide. He would be be more careful than he had been in his time with St Regis, if for no other reason than he had a precious little girl watching her daddy's every move. Depending on him to be better than he was. That same little girl giggling at the camera reminding him along with her mom that he was loved and missed by his family. They were his anchor, and that was the difference between the then and the now. They taught him that wanting that wasn't a weakness like his life had drilled into him. It was strength, and they gave him a better reason to fight.

The door to the warehouse opened and Tom reached for the van door without a word. He had a job to do, and when he finished it, he had a family to go home to.

Notes: I have way too many plot bunnies bouncing around my head with Redemption on air right now. I suppose this is a good problem to have? It means this series is updated much more regularly.