The day had continued to be absolutely beautiful, the weather warm and sunny, but from her view on the sixth floor of the building, Lisa could see across to New Jersey, where clouds promised either rain or snow. At her feet, Adalia was sleeping in a baby carrier that Lisa was rocking with her extended foot. Matthew, who had been more than colicky and had been kind enough to throw up all over his father before the meeting, was held to her chest as he finally began to quiet down, his little face red and streaked with tears. As the much cooler wind began to pick up, she bent over him and kissed his head, vaguely aware of the door to the patio opening. There were slow footsteps before Jackson came around and sat in the chair next to her.
'Did it go well?' she asked as Matthew started drifting off, trying his best to keep himself awake.
He didn't say anything, just sat pensively. Adalia had opened her green eyes to look at the vines wrapped around the canopy, reaching for an odd cluster of flowers hanging from the very top. Jackson watched her, carefully taking in every little move of her pudgy little hands, listening to the little cooing noise she made as she stretched against the belt of the carrier. With a comforting smile, he bent down and unbuckled her, carefully picking her up and supporting her head as he lifted her to the wisteria. She slowly pulled one of the leaves down, looking at it with her brow furrowed and her lips puckered. Jackson walked back over to his chair, sitting down before holding Adalia on the end of his knees so he and his wife could watch her play.
The baby squeezed the leaf then looked at her green-tinged hand. She looked between the hand and leaf a few times before holding the leaf out to her father. Cradling her head in his hand, he took the leaf, tracing the edges with his eyes as he turned it over. Lisa watched him as he twirled it in front of Adalia's face, the little girl giggling when he got it close enough to wisp across her nose.
'Are you tired?' Lisa asked quietly, reaching out to brush along his face with the back of her knuckles.
'Not particularly,' he replied. 'Just very relieved.'
'So it went well,' she stated calmly.
'Very well,' he said, looking over at her and nuzzling into her hand. 'The press will be informed of both Poulain's death and the dissolution of the Society. They've also made up a partially true story about one of the employees losing her mind and killing all of the regional heads. Part of my contract stipulates that my name will not be mentioned in any of the press released by the Society.'
She smiled at him. 'No one will bother us.'
'No one,' he replied smoothly. 'Now we can just be that very boring family you've always wanted us to be.'
'Not boring,' she said. 'Just vaguely normal.'
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A/N: And finally, exactly two years after I started posting it, Toccata and Fugue is over, haha! I'll reposting Heir Apparent now, seeing as I've had a lot of requests for it...