A/N: Just a quick little mood piece that attempts to showcase Liz' insecurity and the strain in Lord Death's relationship with his son. Next up will be a couple of chapters that start to soften Liz' heart.
Thank you so much for the reviews, you have no idea how much they mean! Individual responses are at the end of the chapter!
Liz marched into the library, eyes blazing, and determined to hide her panic under a facade of anger.
"Where the hell is my stuff?" she demanded, skidding to a halt in front of the Tudor refectory table in the center of the room.
"Why are you asking me?" Kid asked with a distinct lack of interest. They'd just returned from a reap, he had an examination in conflict resolution the next day and he had to be in the Death Room in an hour to work on Reaper combat arts with his father. He really didn't have time to worry about earrings, or whatever else Liz might have misplaced.
Liz' already-riled temper kicked up a notch. The little bastard couldn't even be bothered to look up from whatever he was reading. Some stupid thing about boring shit, she was sure. She leaned over and yanked the book out of his hands.
"I'm talking to you!" she snarled, tossing the it on the floor, "This is important!"
Kid folded his hands on top of the table and looked at her calmly.
"Well, actually, you're yelling at me, but whatever." he said pleasantly, "Did you ask Patty if she knows the whereabouts of whatever it is you're looking for?"
"Her stuff is missing too."
"I'm sorry to be rude, but I'm busy and this isn't my problem. If you'd put things away when you're done with them-"
Liz cut him off by slamming her hands down on the desktop and leaning right into his face.
"Listen, you little shit, I just went upstairs and all my stuff is gone. Where is it? Did you go on some kind of cleaning tirade? I told you to stay out of my room."
"You never stay out of mine!"
"Because you hide in there all the time."
Liz adopted a superior tone to hide the fear she had no intention of showing. Her brown satchel was missing. The one she'd packed in case she and Patty had to leave quick. All the cash she'd been able to save from her work release and her allowance, clothes, and some things from around the house she could get big bucks for in a certain Flatbush Avenue pawn shop back in Brooklyn. Patty was settling into life at The Gallows, but Liz refused to let herself become so complacent. Any minute this high-class house of cards could come tumbling down and she was going to be ready when it did.
"I don't know what you've lost, but I don't have it." Kid eyed her suspiciously, "What would I do with a bunch of girl's things, anyway?"
"Who the hell knows? Something creepy, probably."
Now Kid was getting pissy, too. "What are you accusing me of?"
"You're capable of just about anything when you're having one of your fits."
"I do not have fits!" Kid yelled, charging to his feet.
Liz grinned evilly at him and deliberately tucked a thick strand of her long hair behind her left ear. Just the left ear. She'd use symmetry to blackmail the information out of him if she had to, and she'd enjoy every minute of it. Now that she knew about Kid's freaky issues with cleanliness and order, she had a button she could push anytime she wanted to get him under control. Control was power, and power was safety. Everyone knew that.
Kid's eye immediately began to twitch.
"Your hair isn't even. Do the other side."
"Nope."
"Liz, I'm serious. You're all asymmetrical. Do the other side!"
"Nope."
"Do the other side!"
"I thought you didn't have fits?"
Liz' self-satisfied gloating was cut short when Kid jumped right over the top of the desk at her.
"Fix it!" he shrieked, desperately trying to tuck back the hair on the right side of her head. One of his rings got caught in the long strands and she yelped in pain when he tried to yank it loose. Infuriated, she grabbed his bangs and scrubbed her palm over them, sending the soft black and white strands skyward.
"There! Go fix your own stupid hair!"
Kid's stomach lurched and he flailed at her hand with his free one. Now his hands and his hair were asymmetrical. He had to fix it. He had to fix it now, even if that meant cutting a chuck of Liz' hair off to get his hand loose. Wait, he couldn't do that. Then she'd be asymmetrical and he'd have to look at her and it would be awful.
"Guess wha..." Lord Death appeared in the door, his happy grin and cheerful words snuffed out by the sight of Liz and Kid tearing each other's hair out by the roots.
One day, he thought, I'd like to get through one day without fights or beatings or emotional breakdowns. He was beginning to truly appreciate the fact that he and Sophie had stopped at one child, and that, until his mother left, that one child had been so easy to raise.
"Kid," he sighed, "What are you doing?"
"I was studying conflict resolution, but."
His father cut him off, "Well, you'd better study a little harder. You're doing it wrong."
"Why do you always assume everything is my fault? She came in here and yelled at me and made her hair asymmetrical on purpose and now my ring is stuck and I couldn't let go of her idiot head if I tried!"
Liz turned her head toward the door as much as she could.
"Yeah, well he took my stuff. Everything in my room is missing!"
Lord Death hurried over with a guilt-stricken face.
"I'm afraid this is all a misunderstanding," he announced, untangling the ring in Liz' hair, "I know you just got back and I thought I could catch you before you went upstairs."
"So you could tell us you're kicking us out?" She felt the ring slide out of her hair and stepped away from the two Reapers. Kid immediately clawed at his head, trying to put himself back in order.
Death was confused. "Why would I do that?
Liz moved toward the door, ready to run, "Well, our rooms are empty."
"I had your things moved back to the end of the west wing, to those rooms you stayed in the first couple of nights you were here," he saw Liz opening her mouth to say something nasty and held up a finger, "Those suites up front we moved you and Patty into are pretty bland. They've always been used as guest rooms and I thought you might want to do something with them. You know, make them your own. It was supposed to be a surprise."
"So we're staying here?"
"Of course."
"And you're giving our rooms a makeover?"
"Yes. I hired that new decorator everyone's into right now. I keep forgetting his name. The one with the bright red hair and the stupid ties?"
Liz' eyes got so wide he thought they might pop out of her head.
"No fucking way!" she squealed, practically jumping up and down.
Lord Death smiled at her, "He's in the dining room looking at furniture catalogs with Patty right now. I told him he could do whatever you want as long as he stops short of knocking out walls. Why don't you go find some pretty things? Or ugly things, or whatever you kids are into these days."
"Omigod! Thank you!" without thinking, Liz dashed over and gave him a rib creaking hug that almost knocked his breath out, "You're so awesome!"
"You're welcome." he patted her back and his grin widened as she dashed out the door, still squealing with delight.
The grin died when he turned back to his son, who was still kneeling on top of the table fussing with his hair.
"Here," Death said, taking a comb from his inside breast pocket, "look at me."
He smoothed the boy's hair and felt him droop as the tension left his little body. It saddened him to realize it was the first time he'd touched his son in over a week, and that the relief Kid was exhibiting came not from his father's hands, but from the simple fact of being neat again. He wished he could make Kid's problems go away with a treat like the one he'd just given the girls, but those days were long gone.
"Getting kind of long in the back. You need a haircut."
It was easier to talk about haircuts than it was to ask what was going on inside Kid's head. Especially when he couldn't do anything about it.
"I like it this way."
It was easier to stick his bottom lip out and act grouchy than it was to ask why his father didn't pay more attention to him. Especially when it wouldn't change anything.
Responses:
Raven34link: I'm so glad you're enjoying it and that you liked the chapter 4 ending. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing!
REDEADED: As always, a big hug to you, my pal!
HiCrazyCow: I'm so glad you thought the staff characters were okay. You know my deep-seated terror of writing OCs!