Redemption

Chapter Seventy-Eight

Bobby stretched as he exited the shower, his aching muscles finally receiving the sweet relief they'd been craving from the hot water of his shower. He wrapped a large bath towel about his wait, while he used another—this was smaller—to dry his hair. He couldn't help but chuckle—with an underlying sadness picking at his heart—as he used to the smaller one to wipe the steam from the mirror over the sink. Danni would always argue with him about using two towels when he got a shower when she only managed to need one. Given the fact that Bobby was practically twice her size, he used that excuse before usually kissing her on the nose and giving her a tap on the behind, though he knew she never bought it.

Usually, she would just give up after the kiss on the nose because it was a silly thing to argue over in the first place. He wasn't sure why he did it; like all men, he was a creature of habit and his manly instincts usually made him do it. Of course, since he'd been the one to have to do the laundry lately, he'd been trying not to do it as often.

Shaking his head, he slung the loose towel over his shoulder, admiring the great deal of growth that had sprouted on his face in the last few days. It had almost been a full week since his skin had come into contact with a razor and he was starting to get that scruffy, mountain-man look to him, which he didn't entirely hate. It reminded him of when he'd first enrolled at Quantico; he'd sported a full beard at such a young age and he had been darn proud of it, too.

That thought made him chuckle more, this one filled with humor. He'd looked like a fool with that thing, back then, though many a beautiful lady had been drawn to it. Of course, there was only one lady he was looking to impress and he suspected she wouldn't enjoy Mountain-Man Bobby.

Whistling a tune with no familiar melody, he went to work, lathering up his face with his shaving cream, making sure it saturated every hair before he took the razor to it. He made sure to dig out a fresh blade for his shaver, snapping it into place and was about to attack the growth when his cell phone began to ring. Rolling his eyes, he picked up the distraction, not even bothering to look at the number on the front display before flipping it open and putting it on speaker phone. "Hi, Mum," he said, setting the device down on the corner of the sink so he could both continue with his manly ritual and talk to his mother.

"Robert Manning, I oughta tan your hide for not calling me!" her tone was humorless and angered, which only made Bobby wince and curse under his breath.

He'd meant to call her when he'd arrived home, last night, but by the time he'd stepped over the threshold, exhaustion had hit him ten-fold and forced him to bed, Luna curling into a ball upon his stomach, the kitten obviously missing her master and mistress. He'd made a promise to himself to call her when he'd awoken, though he's woken up much later than he'd anticipated—long past noon—and she'd beat him to the punch. "Sorry," he apologized, wiping off a bit of excess cream from the part of his face that was now smooth.

She let out an exasperated sigh, one hand probably on her hip as she tapped a foot upon the kitchen floor. "Well, how is she?" There was only one "she" she would be referring to and if Bobby tried to play dumb—like he usually would—he was sure he wouldn't hear the end of it.

"She's good. She's healing and the doctor thinks she'll be able to come home at the end of the week." For the first time in days it felt good to say that as truth and not just as suspicion.

"And how are you, Luv? How have you been sleeping?" She could only imagine how difficult the ordeal had been for him and she didn't even want to try to put herself in his shoes—despite every mother's effort to want to when their child was hurting. All she could do, now, was offer her distant comfort and wrap him up in a loving hug the next time she saw him.

"Better than I have been the last few days, let's say," he answered truthfully as he wiped the last remnants of the cream from his face to stare at the youthful reflection he saw staring back at him. He now realized why he hadn't bothered to shave these last few days. It wasn't from lack of energy—though that had been part of it—but looking at himself in the mirror had been too difficult; he never saw himself in his reflection. He saw a different man there, with eyes that were devoid of any and all emotion; a stranger trapped in his body. Now, he could see his familiar self staring back at him, or at least someone who would become himself once the shock finally subsided and Danni was home.

He'd been staring at his reflection for so long and became so lost in thought that he hadn't even realized what his mother had been saying to him. He asked her to repeat it, but all she replied with was a chuckle and "never mind, Luv."

Bobby chuckled to himself as he made sure he hadn't missed any spots while shaving. He was lucky to have a mother who understood him so well and where his mind would be at a time like this. He only wished Danni and Charlene had the kind of relationship they used to have. Surprisingly, yesterday when he'd escorted Charlene down to the ground floor—where Nick had been waiting for her to retrieve her purse—she'd opened up to him about how close she and her daughter used to be and she'd even paid him a compliment on how he'd managed to make Danni smile. He'd been taken aback by that, but thanked her nonetheless. He wasn't sure what had prompted her to be so civil with him, but after basically calling him unfit to be with her daughter, he would accept it and know that it had truly come from her heart.

He took one final look in the mirror to make sure he was satisfied and smiled. He walked into the bedroom and over to the closet where he removed his favorite pair of jeans and a clean, blue t-shirt—casual was definitely the best way to go, today. His cell phone was now held to his ear, the speaker phone turned off as he continued to talk with his mother.

Throwing the garments onto the bed, he moved over to the chest of drawers where he removed a pair of boxers. He slipped those on before his jeans and had just buttoned them when he heard a noise coming from the living room. At first, he figured it to just be the cat, but when he heard it again his agent-sense began to tingle. Apologizing to him mum, he quickly hung up the phone and took his gun from its holster which hung on one of the bedposts at the foot of the bed. He crept into the living room, shirtless and alert.

The first thing he noticed when he exited the bedroom was Luna batting her favorite toy—a tiny, stuffed mouse—around the living room floor and that forced him to draw the conclusion that there was someone else in the apartment. Since Danni's abduction, he'd become paranoid at the thought of more intruders. That was why he always made sure to lock the door properly and made sure that every window was securely locked before he left the apartment or went to bed; though the thought of changing the locks seemed very appealing, right then.

Glancing down at the totally unawares kitten, he shook his head and rolled his eyes. Maybe he should have bought Danni a puppy instead. At least it would alert them when there was someone unfamiliar in its home. A noise came from the kitchen turned his focus to what was really important as it sounded like someone was rifling through the kitchen cabinets. With his brow furrowed in determination, he managed to side-step the tabby, making sure to avoid the squeaky floorboard as he crept toward the kitchen, hoping to take the intruder by surprise.

Taking the safety off the gun, he aimed it as the ruckus grew louder. Now, he could hear incoherent mumblings as well as the perpetrator went through one of the lower cabinets that sat below the center island where the stove sat, looking for, what sounded like something specific. Bobby couldn't help but be curious, because they kept all of their important papers and money—along with a few other essentials—in a safe in the bedroom closet, yet this drongo still continued to rifle through their kitchen cabinets.

Only a tuft of light blonde hair could be seen as he caught a visual of the intruder, who seemed to be humming along to the music player on its hip. The voice sounded familiar, yet trying to match the voice and hair to a face was difficult at this moment. Taking a deep breath, Bobby readied himself to reveal himself to the intruder, yet before he had the chance, the perpetrator presented itself in the form of a bubbly, upbeat teenager as she bopped her head to the music playing in her ears.

"Lilly?" he asked, lowering his gun and clicking the safety on so he was positive he wouldn't shoot her, though it didn't sound like a bad idea at the moment.

The vision of his teenage neighbor as she turned to him with a delightful smile on her face made him smile as well as he tucked his gun into the back of his jeans. She always seemed to be able to make the day brighter without meaning to. All it took was one smile and it was a good day. "Oh, hi, Bobby!" she said, removing the ear-buds from her eats and slipping them into the pocket of her jeans as she smiled at the handsome and still shirtless man in front of her.

Noticing her gaze upon his bare chest, Bobby wished only his cheeks showed the embarrassment. He quickly excused himself for a second as he escaped to the bedroom to discard his weapon and trade it in for his t-shirt and a matching baseball cap that was turned backwards. When he exited, now fully clothed, he saw that she had scooped Luna up into her embrace and began to cradle the cat in the crook of her arm while she went to go fix the animal's dinner. "What are you doing here, sheila?"

"Feeding Luna. I didn't know you were home or I would have knocked." She looked up at him to see the unasked question of how she got in on his mind. Smiling, she said: "Miss Thomas gave me her spare key so I could get in and out without a problem." She spooned out some of the cat food from the freshly-opened cup onto a plate before setting both it and the cat upon the floor, where the fluff-ball happily ate.

Bobby accepted her explanation, figuring Sue had asked the night that Jack had been released and they'd brought him his bag of clothes and other essentials. And despite Levi's admiration for Luna, Sue most likely couldn't have taken her with them to Jack's apartment where pets were not allowed; Levi being the special exception. His best mate and the blonde analyst probably had a lot to discuss after Dessa and more than likely wanted some alone-time and Bobby couldn't blame them. After all, when Danni was healed, he was going to whisk her away to the honeymoon of her dreams; no matter what her mother thought of him.

"So, is Danni okay?" she asked, breaking the Aussie's train of thought. He was quick to get back on track, though images of a disheveled honeymoon bed weren't far from his mind until he remembered he was talking to a teenager. "Gram told me what happened and we set her some flowers, but we haven't heard anything. We've been worried about her; Gram thinks very highly of her—she just doesn't show it as well as she could." She chuckled as she leaned against the counter-part of the center island, watching her furry charge lick her mouth clean of food particles before wandering over to Bobby. The ball of fur sniffed his bare foot before rubbing up against his ankle—the highest point she could reach.

Bobby laughed as his toes were tickled by the fine hairs of Luna's whiskers, while trying to hide the fact that he was taken aback by the fact that Old-Lady Angstrom actually admired his fiancée. 'She certainly has a funny way of showing it,' he mused before picking Luna up and depositing her on the countertop where she could playfully bat his fingers as he tapped them in front of her—her favorite game. "She's doing better. She should be home soon."

"Did she really get shot?" It was obvious that the question had been on the tip of her tongue ever since she'd heard Miss Thomas tell her Gram about the incident. She'd never known anyone who'd been shot before and thought it was pretty cool.

Bobby's chest rumbled with laughter as he saw her wide-eyed question and the anticipation for an answer rushing through her. It was that simple example of teenage-excitement that told him that this was just the beginning of the question-and-answer period and that it was going to be a long day.