A/N: sorry sorry... bad week for sleep makes brains juices slow... Anyways! thankyou for the reviews and as always Enjoy!
"Dr Wallace" Evan said in surprise as he had looked up from the soldering work he was currently engaged in for a brief break to see Malcolm standing by one of the pillars looking around Evan's lab space and the Terminus.
"Malcolm, you lived in my house for a month I think the formalities can be dropped" Malcolm said as he moved around the area to get a closer look at things.
"Ok, what can I do for you?" Evan asked he didn't mind Malcolm as a boss as the man pretty much left him to do his work in peace. He only stopped by once or twice a week but there was never any pressure for him to hurry up with his work and Malcolm was always keen to listen and offer advice instead of telling what to do which Evan truly appreciated as he hated back seat drivers.
"I'm just passing by decided to see how you were progressing" Malcolm said as he looked down at the new circuitry board Evan was constructing. Evan put down his soldering tool and gave a nod as he sat up looking at Malcolm as he spoke.
"Oh ok well I'm about 60% completed. You did a good job frying this circuitry" Evan commented. He watched the older man have no real recollection of how, when or why which was quite remarkable but then Amnesia did that to people. He often worried about Kate and Malcolm as she had the history of their relationship and Malcolm was like a blank slate but they appeared to be doing well. Even with Kate's humour sometimes being taken a little too seriously by Malcolm.
"Yes, I did" Malcolm said awkwardly as he hated not remembering the reasons behind such decisions without referring to his journal. Sure he had read the journals and knew the reasons but the emotions and drive behind said decisions he didn't feel so he felt he couldn't really own them. With exception of Kate where his emotions were anything but platonic and he did in a way own her but then she equally owned him. He just wished he could tell her he loved her but the words did not feel right, he cared deeply about her and knew he was slowly falling in love with her but he couldn't say the words yet.
"Either way another few weeks I should have it repaired but it's going to be useless without the updated software to tether the portal and keep our end closed" Evan told Malcolm who folded his arms and gave the situation some thought.
"Yes, with the unfortunate deaths of Dr Xiong and Goldman you will have to work with Lucas Taylor to do that as he is the only other person in the colony with a true grasp and understanding of theoretical physics" Malcolm said matter of factorily. Evan made a face and gave a resigned sigh.
"I was afraid you'd say that. I'll finish the repairs and then approach Taylor about having a meeting with Lucas to finish the project" Evan said a conversation he was not looking forward to. Malcolm opened his mouth to say he'd talk to Taylor for him but was interrupted.
"Dr Wallace, oh my goodness did we have an appointment today?" Haynes asked Malcolm turned to the woman and tried to hide his annoyance as she really grated on his nerves, she was also entirely too over friendly and always touching him. He had hoped the wedding ring would be a deterrant but apparently it was not.
"No I was just passing through" Malcolm said.
"Checking up on Dr Washington? You should be careful as your colleagues were murdered you're probably next" Haynes said to Evan like it was news to all of them.
"Thanks" Evan replied dryly as he didn't need reminding but so far he had been careful and used the overkill home security measures Kate taught him such as moving furniture around closer to the back door rearranging food in the cupboards and memorising the arrangement and his spaces or in his case taking a photo and making sure everything was still in it's place when he got home. He felt like a crazy person for doing it but it did comfort him. He also kept all the blinds closed at night so no one could watch him and the kids, he knew it was just temporary.
"Oh I'm just saying that word is that the sixers and anyone related to reopening the portal are getting killed. That the Commander and the Sheriff have no leads to who is doing it" Haynes said as she touched his arm.
"Idle gossip but I appreciate the heads up" Evan said dryly as he wished the labs had doors as Dr Haynes was always popping in and annoying him in her version of flirting. Unless Malcolm was in the room then he was safe, it was probably because Malcolm was closer to her age while Evan was younger than her.
"Speaking of Dr Wallace this roll call every morning and afternoon is a bit excessive don't you think?" Haynes asked. She made it sound like they all gathered as a group and Malcolm physically counted them like a flock of sheep when all he did was wait for all his people to send a message at 9am and 5pm announcing they were still alive and their location. It wasn't like he was taking up time from their work and it was for their own safety.
"It's not my call. Commander Taylor wants it done and frankly if he hadn't instituted it I would have myself. We are a small colony and I can't afford to lose anymore scientists" Malcolm said though he like Evan felt it wouldn't be so bad if they lost Haynes along the way.
"Storm's coming in early today" Kate commented as she looked at the brooding clouds in the sky it was marking the end of summer. She could smell the rain and knew in the next hour it was going be pouring down rain.
"Yeah apparently it will be raining the next few days" Jim commented as he too looked at the sky for a moment.
"Joy" Kate said dryly before she continued "So Malcolm said he didn't check in this morning and usually he's the funniest of them all with his message and always on time." Kate said as they were walking Dr Fogarty's house. He had a great sense of humour and the craziest hair like he hadn't seen a comb in his life. He was always good for a few laughs and for compliments as he hit on everything.
"I suggest you take the front door and I'll take the back, try a couple of knocks if there's no reply then go in" Jim said as he knew Fogarty was the only person they knew who wouldn't throw a fit at them just walking into his house unannounced in fact he'd probably make them sit down for a cup of coffee and a chat.
"Ok" Kate said.
"So is the olfactory picking up anything today?" Jim asked quietly as they reached the house.
"No, actually I don't even smell you" Kate said looking at him curiously as she had just noticed his man stink was not lingering. She wasn't game to lean in further and try her luck but it was nice to smell his man stink.
"I washed in hunter's no-scent soap and I'm wearing no cologne. The things I do for you" Jim said with an amused smile.
"It's appreciated" Kate said before they split up. Kate unholstered her gun and waited as Jim went around the back. She counted down to five and then pounded on the door. "Hey Foggers!" Kate called through the door. She pounded on the door again "Open up dude! you missed your check in" Kate said as she punched in the override code. She turned the door handle and kicked the door open and with her gun raised.
But she was too late as she heard the sound of a sonic pulse blast she looked to the source and saw the back door was opened and Jim was lying on the ground.
"Damnit, Jim! Are you ok?" She asked him as she ran to him. Jim groaned as he nodded.
"Trackstar. Go" He said as he pushed himself up off the ground and pointed in the direction of a running figure. Kate nodded and took off after the figure. Jim held his chest as he watched Kate running off in the distance chasing another figure towards the agriculture fields.
He pulled out his comm and called for back up to help Kate and a medical team to the house. He just hoped they weren't too late for Fogarty.
Kate ran and fired a couple of sonic blasts at the person she was chasing hoping to slow them down but they were too far away for the blast to have any effect. Her muscles burned from the exertion as she expended the energy, they had been running for a good 10 minutes and ended up in one of the large crop fields of what looked to be corn.
After a few turns and weaves Kate lost the suspect, she stopped to listen for movement indicative of someone running through the crops bashing the branches but heard nothing but the thunder above and the light rustle of wind.
Kate looked down at the ground and pulled out a terra and tossed on the ground next to a clear foot tread and used her comm. to take a picture before she followed them.
"Kate come in" Jim said over the comm. line. She winced at how loud it was as it was practically a beacon to her location.
"I'm here but I lost the suspect and the rain is about to wash away the tracks" Kate said as a rain drop hit her nose.
"Come to the command centre, I'm looking at the field you're in and there's no heat signatures close to you the suspect is gone" Jim said.
"On my way" Kate said, she pocketed her comm. and holstered her gun before turning on her feet and heading back to the command centre she just hoped she got there before the sky opened up and dumped rain on her and the colony.
"Apparently he was drugged with the same toxin as the other two victims. Liz said that once they have flushed the toxin out of his system he should be able to tell us what happened that's if he didn't suffer any permenant brain damage from oxygen deprivation. There was no evidence in the house to identify the woman who shot me and ran off" Jim told Taylor. They were standing undercover on the balcony watching as the rain came down hard outside. Jim held his side as he couldn't believe his luck to be shot.
"You get cleared?" Taylor asked looking at Jim.
"Yeah just a few broken ribs. It could have been worse" Jim said which was true if the woman's pistol had been on a higher setting he'd been dead from the shot to the chest.
"Did you get a good look at the culprit?" Taylor asked Jim.
"Yeah she runs like the freaking wind" Kate said catching her breath as she came around to where Taylor and Jim were. She stood back slightly as she was drenched to the bone and had left a trail of water behind her.
"You want a towel?" Taylor asked her as he was ready to move inside and get her one but she shook her head.
"No, I'm going to be rude and tell you what I know and head home" Kate said.
"Ok" Taylor said with an amused expression.
"What did you see?" Jim asked Kate.
"Not enough to ID her but I did get a photo of her shoe print roughly a size six or seven maybe but her shoes are terra nova tread" Kate said which meant work boots that every single person in the colony had a pair of in their house.
"Did Fogarty make it?" Kate asked Jim.
"Yeah he's alive but it will take some time for him to become conscious, Taylor has posted a couple of soldiers just in case she tries to finish off what she started" Jim told her, Kate nodded as she took the information in.
"She is the cat's mother" Kate remarked with a small smile.
"Until we have a name 'she' works. I didn't get a good ID before I was blasted in the chest all I can tell you is that she was about 5'6 5'7' maybe. Caucasian, dark brown hair but that's it" Jim said as he hated not knowing who this woman was and where the other sixers had disappeared. There were no real leads and too many possible victims to put protection details on them all.
"Ok did we find anything else?" Taylor asked.
"No, looks like we are back to square one as Brunette, caucasian, runs like the wind, roughly 5'6, 5'7.. size six boot size doesn't exactly narrow it down" Jim said.
"If it helps we can rule out Maddy, Elisabeth, Mira and Alicia as they all have shoes sizes above seven and any woman above the height of 5ft 8" Kate said being a smart ass.
"That's isn't helpful" Taylor said pursing his lips so as to show how amused he was that Kate knew Alicia's shoe size let alone Mira's. He knew Kate's humour was just a form of deflection so no one would ask her how she feeling in the mess of it all as she was seen as a sixer sympathiser as she negotiated their surrender and subsequent return to the colony.
"The point being is that we are getting closer and we saved the latest victim. Hopefully he'll wake up and be able to tell us something. You know she's going to be singing that song right now"
"What song?" Taylor asked.
"I shot the sheriff but I didn't shoot no deputy" Kate said singing the line with a smile on her face before she chuckled.
"That is not funny" Jim told her wincing in pain.
"It kinda is. Now if you two excuse me. I am cold and soaked to the bone I'm going home to dry off before I catch my death" Kate said, she turned on her feet and walked away not even waiting to be dismissed.
"That's not funny either!" Jim called out to her as she gave a wave as she took off into the rain. He shook his head and looked at Taylor.
"She really doesn't understand the command structure and who's the boss here" Jim said as Kate was good at the following orders and being a team player when it counted but sometimes Jim felt like he was answering to her when it was supposed to be the other way round.
"She understands she chooses to ignore it" Taylor said.
"That was close" he whispered in her ear as she closed the door and dropped the gun and cup she had been holding to the floor as she leaned her back against it catching her breath. She slid to the floor ignoring him as he sat next to her with his knife sharpening it as always did. "I think that deputy got a good look at you" he added.
"No, if she did then I'd be in cuffs right now. So go away" she told him as she looked down at the cup on the floor. She had taken it from the house so they wouldn't have her fingerprints or DNA. She couldn't believe how close she had gotten to being caught, she had shot the sheriff and now she was exhausted and wanted to be left alone.
"I can't leave you. We need to finish the job and clean up the mess you made as you are absolutely hopeless at killing people. Poison is slow and ineffective means of murdering someone. Now using a knife is an art." he told her.
"He was nearly dead if they had come an hour later everything would be fine" She told him.
"It you had slit his throat then we wouldn't have anything to worry about" he snapped angrily.
"He was barely breathing I doubt he will survive from the oxygen deprivation and even so if he does I will have to finish him off in the infirmary. I have a shift three days from now I'll find a way" She told him.
"If you don't finish him off I will" he whispered her.
"Then we will get caught for sure and we will never finish the list. How do you think the others will take that?" She asked as she looked him directly in the eyes for a moment before turning away as she couldn't stand the blood lust in his eyes.
"Fine, but just remember if your plan for the deputy fails then it's my turn to take over" he whispered in her ear, making her shiver in disgust as she knew he would not show Deputy Renshaw any mercy.
"You know when you said we'll continue this conversation later. I figured it would be later that day not a week and a half later" Alicia said as she lifted the twins out of the baby carrier she had been wearing and placed them on the blanket Kate had laid down on grass of her backyard a few days later.
Kate had invited her over for afternoon tea but with the weather so nice and the sun was out and shining after a couple days of nonstop rain.
Alicia definitely wasn't complaining as she got out of her house and a change of scenery. Taylor had become incredibly overbearing with protecting her and the twins to the point he was working from home and when he left there was always a guard. It was ridiculous as no threats had been against Taylor or herself. As far as the investigation had shown it was the sixers who had to look out for themselves as they were being targeted.
"I know it's all this drama with the sixers going on and Malcolm getting in the way" Kate said as she carried a pot of tea out and placed it on the grass before sitting down with a sigh.
"What has he done now?" Alicia asked.
"Nothing. He's worried about this serial killer business and the fact Jim copped a sonic pulse to the chest he thinks it micht happen to me" Kate said with the wave of a dismissive hand. "I carry a gun and I'm not even a person of interest to the killer" she added but to Alicia it sounded like Kate was trying to convince herself that she wouldn't be targeted and that she was safe.
"I'm worried about you and Evan" Alicia admitted, Evan was the project leader for the Terminus repairs and everything precluding to the portal. It made him a target just as much as Kate was one as many people assumed she was allied with the sixers as she helped negotiate their terms of surrender which allowed them to return to the colony. she worried her number would come up.
"I know I'm worried about Evan as well. I offered him a gun but he wouldn't take it" Kate said as she poured out two cups of tea.
"Evan is a bit like Malcolm in regards to guns" Alicia said Kate rolled her eyes which made Alicia smile as the two were definitely a different couple from what they previously were. They were definitely more volatile as Malcolm hadn't learned the art of picking the 'right' fight or being more accepting something that he must of acquired through his five years in Terra Nova but they were both still very commited to one another and most of the fights were just tiff nothing that made Alicia worry about their future as a couple.
"Don't get me started on that one. Every time I walk through the door he's telling me to put my gun in the safe before I do anything else. I'll be right back" Kate said getting up off the ground.
"Bathroom again?" Alicia asked her incredulously.
"Shut up" Kate said as she ran back into the house. Alicia chuckled as it was the third time Kate had disappeared to answer 'nature's call' as Kate put it since Alicia had arrived. She found it amusing to no longer have those issue and watch Kate suffer through it as she had teased Alicia mercilessly about being pregnant and the 'joys'.
She turned to the twins and smiled softly as they were peacefully sleeping. She picked up the cup of tea and enjoyed the outside air and the sunshine as she took a couple sips of her tea testing the temperature before drinking more. It was a delicious blend and made note to ask Kate what it was when she returned.
It wasn't until she had drained half the cup that she frowned as all feeling fled from her fingers. The cup fell from her hand, tea spilling on the blanket as Alicia felt her body grow numb as she struggled to breathe.
Kate dried her hands before she left the bathroom and cursed the half a litre of water she had consumed that morning as it was apparently running straight out of her. She walked out to the back veranda and saw Alicia lying on the ground and smiled as she stepped down to join her.
"You seriously asleep? I heard twins were tiring but-" Kate stopped as she noted the spilt tea and Alicia's panicked expression as she desperately tried to breathe. "Alicia, talk to me" Kate said as she dropped to her knees and elevated Alicia into an upright position in the hopes of helping her breathe. Alicia wheezed as her breathing improved but not enough to speak. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as lack of oxygen overtook her.
Kate laid Alicia back down and felt for pulse feeling it slow dramatically within the space of seconds. She pulled out her comm. and called for a medical team before she started CPR.
Taylor raced to Kate's house just in time to see his wife being loaded up into one of the rhinos with medical staff. He went into the house and found Kate in the living area with the twins on the lounge. She was looking out of it while Jim was out in the backyard with Malcolm.
"What happened?" Taylor asked her gently. She looked up at him and looked speechless for a moment before answering.
"I ah went to the loo when I came back she was having difficulty breathing and I called it in. I think it was the tea" Kate said slightly spaced out as she was in a mixed state of shock and disbelief.
"Did you drink any of the tea?" Taylor asked her, Kate shook her head.
"No, I didn't. I'm so sorry" Kate told him he could see the guilt written on her face as her eyes filled with tears. He couldn't understand why she would feel that way, he sat down next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder making her look at him.
"You have nothing to apologise for it wasn't your fault. Look I'm going to go outside for second and then to the infirmary. Do you think you and Malcolm could watch the twins for a few hours?" he asked her, Kate nodded as she tried to keep a rein on her emotions.
"Yeah definitely" Kate said after she cleared her throat and quickly wiped her eyes before the tears fell. Taylor gave her a kind smile.
"Good, you know the code to our house let yourselves in. There's food if you two get hungry and milk for the peanuts. I also recommend that tomorrow you toss everything in your cupboards and fridge" Taylor told her, Kate nodded before she looked to the twins who were awake and wriggling their arms and legs. It was amusing to watch as their muscle control was still developing. He watched for a moment before he got up and left her.
He went out to the back veranda watched Malcolm was siphoning tea into portable test tubes to have them tested with Jim standing nearby talking to him. Jim noted Taylor's presence and excused himself walked to Taylor's side.
"Malcolm's taking samples of tea looks like the food was untouched. I asked Kate about the tea and she said it was her usual tea canister and that she assumed Malcolm had filled up for her yesterday. But Malcolm says he didn't buy the tea, he was going to do it tomorrow."Jim said.
"So the tea got into the canister of it's own accord. Did you check the doors for tampering?" Taylor asked.
"Yes, someone accessed the house at 2am this morning using a skeleton key as there was no ID attached to the log in in the logs" Jim said.
"That's a bold move, I'm amazed Kate didn't wake up" Taylor said as Kate woke up to the slightest noise in the house unless she heavily sedated. Jim gave a shrug.
"She's more fatigued of late from the pregnancy. It could be messing with her 'spidey' senses and hence she didn't wake her up." Jim said offering it as an explanation before he added "She's taking this pretty hard"
"I know, keep me posted I'm going to go check on Wash. Tell Malcolm, Kate will be at my house with the twins so he knows where she'll be" Taylor said, Jim gave a nod before going back to talk with Malcolm. Taylor went back into touched Kate on the shoulder, she looked up at him.
"Let's take the girls over to my place now" Taylor said, Kate nodded as she wrapped up the girls in their separate swaddle blankets and passed one up to Taylor before picking the other in her arms and getting to her feet.
"Where's the bag?" Taylor asked.
"By the door" Kate said as she adjusted the twin in her arms.
"Commander" Elisabeth said in greeting when Taylor came into the infirmary, he had helped Kate feed and settle the twins before Malcolm arrived. He posted two guards out the front and when Malcolm came he left feeling better that Kate wouldn't be alone in the house. He also figured waiting it out at home with the twins would give Elisabeth and her team the space and time to help Alicia without his presence adding undue pressure.
"How is she?" Taylor asked as he looked at Alicia who was lying on a bio bed, she was hooked up to an IV drip and vitals monitor. Her skin was sickly pale as she laid unnaturally still. He felt his stomach churn as she looked like she was dead. He would have assumed as much if the heart monitor wasn't beeping indicating she still had a pulse.
"Alicia looks worse than she is. "Elisabeth said noting his concerned look at Alicia's appearance "She's stable, luckily she didn't have the same concentrations as Fogarty. So we were able to flush all of the toxins from her system before it could do any permanent damage. She'll be fine but weak for a few days as her system rights itself" Elisabeth said. Dr Fogarty who had been poisoned with the same toxin had slipped into a coma and was showing no signs of waking up anytime soon.
"When will she wake up?" Taylor asked.
"Not for another hour or two but even so I want to keep her in here for a couple of days at least to make sure everything checks out. Even so be prepared she will be incredibly weak for the next few days" Elisabeth told him.
"Thank you Doc" Taylor said as he moved to the bed and pulled up a chair and sat down by Alicia's side taking her hand in his.
"We're going to have to throw out everything and wash all of our wares and change the locks" Malcolm said as he paced the kitchen. He had been doing so for the past half an hour since Taylor left venting all his concerns and frustrations over the day's events. Kate had sat at the dining table listening to him vent and allowing him to get it out of his system as she was still stunned her best friend had almost died because of her. She should have heard the intruder, she should have double checked the locks and the list went on and on as she found fault after fault in her routines that had become sloppy and thanks to her lapse in discipline Alicia was lying in the infirmary.
"Taylor said the same thing" Kate said as she watched him pace, she didn't know where he found the energy.
"Kate what if it were you who drank that tea-"
"Don't I'm not lucky. Alicia is in the infirmary because me. Because I affliated myself with sixers. I negotiated their surrender and return to the colony. I brought Lucas back from the jungle to continue the project it's all my fault. This woman snapped because of something I started" Kate said Malcolm paused in pacing looking at how guilty Kate felt about the whole situation at hand.
He moved to the table and sat down on the chair beside hers and leaned on his arms so he could lean his head to get her attention. He had been so wrapped in what could have happened to Kate and their unborn child he wasn't paying attention to the present woman.
"Kate, you were just an instigator if you didn't do it someone else would have made it happen. Probably Jim he has a way of meddling in things not to say you are a meddler but you did what you had to at the time for personal reasons. Taylor and Mira put you the middle person to their issues, you didn't seek that position. None of this is your fault" he told her as he looked at her, she looked down at the table not making eye contact.
"I'm so tired" she told him dejectedly.
"Why don't you go lie down" he told her as he rubbed her back in a soothing gesture.
"No, I'm tired of this-" Kate stopped midsentence as a soft cry of a baby made Kate get up from the table and move to the crib that had been rolled from the bedroom to the lounge room for ease. Malcolm wanted to her to finish her sentence but knew better than to
"Hey munchkin" Kate said as she picked up the crying Ella and cradled the baby with a natural ease he was entirely too envious of as he was rubbish with children which he hoped would change when they had their kid.
"What's the matter? Huh? you hungry?" Kate asked the baby that kept wailing until Kate placed her knuckle in the baby's mouth for a moment. "Apparently you are, ok we'll get you something keep your diaper on" she told the baby as it continued to cry.
Malcolm watched Kate entered a whole different mental state humming a tune he didn't recognise as she walked to the kitchen and held onto the baby with one arm and pulled a bottle of milk from the fridge warming it up and then feeding the milk to the baby, all the while talking to the baby as if it would reply. He had to admit he liked seeing her with a baby in her arms. He couldn't wait to see her with their child the realisation struck him hard at how strongly he felt that desire even knowing now in roughly 6 months from happening. Kate looked up from the baby she was holding and they locked eyes for a moment before she gave him a smile.
"You want to have a hold?" Kate asked him after she burped the baby and cleaned up stray milk that didn't make it into the baby's mouth or was spat back up. She moved toward him with the baby and a mischievous grin on her face. Malcolm had purposely been avoiding this scenario for weeks as he had never held a baby in his life. Animal/Insect younglings, yes. But a human baby, no. The last thing he wanted to do was break the Commander's baby.
"She's just eaten, it's probably not wise" Malcolm said shaking his head.
"It makes it the perfect time as Ella is sated. look she's asleep already how can it go wrong" Kate said as she showed that Ella was indeed blissfully asleep.
"Will you finish what you're saying if I hold her"
"Bargaining?" Kate asked him in amusement.
"I might drop her" He said nervously as she sat down next to him with the baby in her arms.
"You won't, now come on, you got nothing to worry about. Babies bounce" Kate assured him which made his eyes go wide as she said it so seriously that it sounded like she dropped them all the time. "I'm kidding, now take her" Kate said as she held the baby to him forcing him to take her. Malcolm took the baby and awkwardly cradled her in his arms. It was incredibly foriegn and frankly uncomfortable.
"See it's not so bad, you can move her around until you both find a comfortable spot. Just make sure you support the head. There you go" Kate said stepping back and looking at Malcolm. She couldn't help but smile at how uncomfortable he was holding the baby. It took him a few moments before he shifted the baby was upright with her head was on his shoulder, her little hands grasping the fabric of his shirt.
"Just so you know I've never held a baby in my life"
"Seriously?" Kate asked him.
"Yes, now what do I do?"
"Just relax, they can smell fear and don't jiggle her" Kate told him with a mischievous chuckle as she watched him. Malcolm held the baby but didn't feel the affinity he had seen Kate or the others who had held the babies shared. If anything he felt like putting the baby down as he wasn't really getting the fascination.
"Will you finish what you were saying?" he asked as he silently hoped the baby wouldn't wake up and cry. Kate got up from her chair and moved to the kitchen.
"It's nothing"
"It's not nothing otherwise you wouldn't have said it"
"I'm tired ok, I'm tired of always being in the crosshairs wondering when my number is up. I just want to live a quiet and normal life sans the danger of psycho killers, wars etc." Kate told him throwing her hands up in the air.
"Then quit"
"Quit?"
"Yes as long as you're a deputy you'll always be a target. How about this as a compromise. Take a year off and just do whatever you want that doesn't involve you being a deputy while helping me raise our child. I know you are a deputy because you want to do your part and you're good at it but that doesn't mean you can't do something else" Malcolm said. Kate who had been looking upset and completely out of sorts smiled an amused smile. He wondered what she was smiling about as it wasn't his suggestion, that he knew because he felt something warm trickle down the arm of his shirt.
"Tell me she's drooling" Malcolm said as Kate covered her smile with a hand.
"I can't lie" Kate said as she tried hard not to laugh, she picked up one of the clean baby towels from the bench and cleaned Ella up before taking her off Malcolm.
"Oh that is disgusting" he said as he looked at his sleeve, he took the towel from Kate and moved to the Kitchen sink to clean the rest of the vomit off his shirt sleeve. Kate on the other hand found entirely amusing as she laughed.
"It's hilarious I'm sure Ella isn't the first female to throw up on you or the last" Kate said as she watched him.
"Mmm no Elisabeth threw up on my shoes after a night of beer and pizza when we were 18. I had to throw out my favourite shoes they were that ruined" Malcolm said.
"Well your shirt will survive as a run through the wash will rid it of any evidence of the spit up" Kate said with a smile before she looked down at Ella. "You feel better kiddo?" Kate asked Ella as the baby slowly went to sleep.
"That is not fair, I hold her and I get vomited on, you hold her and she goes to sleep" Malcolm complained.
"I have that effect on small animals and children." Kate said with a smug smile as she moved to the crib and placed Ella down next to her sister who was still out like a light. Ava was the definitely had the easier disposition as Alicia had been trying to get the twins on some kind of schedule. Ava apparently the twin who happily went with the program while Ella made her own schedule. Kate was amazed at how two babies so young could already have individual traits. She leaned over the crib and double checked the twins were not too hot or cold in the crib before Malcolm stood behind her wrapping one arm around her waist and pulling her back upright.
"Something I'm very envious of" he said as he placed a kiss on her nape. Kate smiled as she leaned back into his body for warmth and comfort. "I'm going to change my shirt and then we can rummage through Taylor's cupboards for an afternoon snack" he said after a moment passed.
"I like the sound of that. I'm starving" Kate said with a smile.
TBC~ Cya all hopefully well rested and with more!