"It's not fair!" Angel whined the next morning. "Why do Alastor and Charlie get to miss lessons and I don't?"
"Solomon says that Alastor is recovering from a head injury and Charlie is sick." Blitzo answered. "They need to rest."
"I've seen them, they don't look that bad to me."
"Well you're not a doctor."
"Neither are you. In fact I'm pretty sure you never finished high school."
"Watch your mouth young man, don't forget who's in charge here."
"I haven't forgotten. I know it's not you."
"Of all the disrespectful- Ugh! You better be glad that I'm not your father because if I was-"
"No you're too ugly to be my father. If I was your kid I would have to get plastic surgery because I couldn't go through life inheriting your looks."
"Snotty nosed, little shit! I'm going to appeal to Solomon about using corporal punishment on you brats."
"I can't imagine you appealing to anyone. You've be rejected by both the females and males of your species! You were even rejected by a clown!"
"How do you know that?"
"You told me during one of your drunken rants. You thought I was Moxxie so you spilled everything to me. And by the way I find your erotic obsession with him and his wife sad."
Blitzo turned red with embarrassment and rage.
"Get out of here! Now! Before I forget my place and smack you!" He snapped. "Go wake up Vaggie!"
"I thought it was Millie's job to wake us up. That's what Solomon says."
"Well today it's your job!"
"Solomon isn't going to like that. You know how he likes everything to stick to his plans and schedules."
"I don't care! Now go! Vamoose!"
Angel stuck his tongue out at Blitzo and then walked over to Vaggie's room.
"Hey Vaggie time to get up." He said knocking on the door. "Come on, breakfast is in an hour and you know the rules. No reheats or extra time to eat."
There was no answer.
"Vags! We're not allowed to sleep in today! Wake up!"
Nothing.
"I am not going to be the only one with lessons today. If you don't say something, I'm coming in."
When she still didn't respond he opened the door and stepped into her room. She was still in bed, fast asleep.
"Vaggie wake up!"
She moaned and pulled her pillow over her head.
"Hate to do this to you Vaggie but I have my orders."
Angel climbed on to Vaggie's bed and pulled the covers off. But when he placed his hand on her side to shake her awake, she suddenly sat up real fast and punched Angel in the face.
"Ow! What the hell?! What did you do that for?"
But she didn't stop there and the next thing Angel knew she was screaming at him. Screaming at him, hitting him, kicking him, and scratching him.
"Get off me! Don't touch me!"
"Vaggie what's wrong with you?"
"Get away from me! Get away!"
There was something not right about her eyes. Something different and disturbing. A flash had appeared in them and it seemed like she wasn't aware that she was looking at him. It almost looked as if she thought that she was somewhere else and that Angel was a somebody else. Somebody that she wanted to get away from.
"Vaggie stop!" Angel said grabbing her arms.
"No! I said no! I don't want to! I don't want to!"
"Don't want to do what? What are you talking about?"
But she didn't stop. She just kept screaming and hitting him. Screaming and hitting him until the Solomon heard the ruckus and intervened. He pulled Vaggie off of Angel, she struggled and turned her violence on to him but he injected her with a syringe. It was a muscle relaxer, one that would cause the body to go numb for an hour or two.
"It's alright Vaggie." He told her when the injection caused her struggling to cease. "It's okay. It's us. Solomon and Angel. We're not going to hurt you."
When Vaggie lost the strength to fight, she could only listen and doing so allowed her to return to her senses. She was breathing very hard and the expression on her face looked like she had just woken up from a bad dream. But she had been awake. She was awake the whole time she threw that fit.
"Wha...What...What is this?" She was trembling. "What did I...What did I do?"
"Vaggie take a deep breath. Calm down. Focus on your breathing. Millie!"
She came in as soon as he called.
"Yes sir." She responded.
"Stay with Vaggie."
"What happened?"
"I'll tell you later. Just stay with her, Angel come with me. I wanna talk to you."
First he took a moment to check Angel's injuries. It was only a few scratches and bruises, nothing serious. Then he took Angel into his office and sat him down in front of his desk. Normally that was never a good sign. At least as far as Angel was concerned.
"Am I in trouble again?" Angel asked.
"No." Solomon answered. "But I would like you to tell me what took place in Vaggie's bedroom just now. What did you do?"
"Nothing. I just came in to wake her up and she started to go crazy."
"You woke her up? Millie is supposed to wake her. She's the one who gets you all ready in the morning."
"I know but Blitzo told me to wake Vaggie up."
"Damn fool!" Solomon cursed. "I told him a hundred times that I assign agents specific tasks for a reason."
"What's going on? Why did Vaggie attack me? I know she hates my guts but what happened back there was too much even for her.
"How exactly did you wake Vaggie?"
"The same way anyone would."
"Could you be a little more detailed?"
"I knocked on her door, called her name, it didn't work, so I got on her bed and tried to give her a little shake."
"You were in her bed and you touched her?"
"No I was on her bed and I touched her. But what does that have to do with anything?"
"It's...It's not important."
"Don't lie to me. Yes it is."
Solomon knew something. Angel could tell. He could always tell when an adult knew more than what they led on. He had a history of adults constantly keeping secrets from him and acting oblivious to peculiar matters. He didn't like it when adults did that. It made him feel that they thought he was stupid.
"I'm not lying to you Angel." Solomon said. "I really can't say for sure why Vaggie reacted in that manner. I have a theory, but I don't like to confirm anything without all the facts or evidence."
"But if you knew for sure you would tell me right?"
"No. If my theory was confirmed then I still wouldn't tell you. It wouldn't be my place to tell."
"What does that mean?"
"Let me put this in a different perspective. Do you remember the day I found you? And how when I brought you back to the bureau, you had told me how you ended up in that sewer. You were all in tears, feeling ashamed and embarrassed."
"Yes. I remember."
"You begged me not to ever tell anyone about that night or about what you said to me and I haven't said a word of it to anyone since."
"Really?"
"Really. And do you know why? Because I know that what led to you getting left in that sewer hurt you deeply. So deeply that you don't want to talk about it, you don't want to think about it, you don't want anyone to know about it, because you just want it to go away. If my theory about Vaggie is correct then it's the same way with her. Can you understand that?"
"I think I can."
"Then don't say anymore. Don't mention it to Vaggie, don't ask her why she did what she did, I'll take care of it. And don't ever get into her bed again. Or on her bed."
"Okay."
"Thank you. Now go eat your breakfast and meet Moxxie for your lesson."
"What about Vaggie? Is she going to be okay? She looked scared. I've never seen her scared before. I didn't think she was scared of anything."
"Everyone gets scared of something Angel but that doesn't make them any less than they are. Vaggie will be fine. She'll join you later today."
He dismissed Angel and called for Blitzo to come in. He received one hell of a tongue lashing from his boss.
"Millie is the only one allowed to wake the children! Especially the girls! You know that!"
"How was I supposed to know she would lose it if someone else did it?" Blitzo said. "You never told me."
"But I did tell you that I have good reason for giving you all specific tasks when the children are involved. Millie gets them ready in the morning, Moxxie handles their academic lessons, you coach their physical lessons, all three of you teach gun and weapon education, I teach them the Bible and the paranormal, then I switch off with each of their individual training, Millie takes care of the girls's bathing and hygiene while Moxxie does the boys's, and I put them to bed. I have a system! Follow it!"
"I'm sorry. I'm still not used to following plans and schedules. I'm someone who prefers to improvise."
"Well improv is not affordable here and I'm starting to lose my patience with you Blitzo. You're doing well as an agent but you act very carelessly with the children. First Alastor's accident and now this."
"That wasn't my fault! The kids sneaked out!"
"You were supposed to be watching them that night."
"I was. Sometimes even if you're on high alert, kids will slip right under your nose."
"Charlie told me you were raiding the ice box."
"Oh..."
"Now I'm serious Blitzo. This is your last chance. If one more incident involving the children occurs because of your carelessness then I'll have no choice but to dismiss you."
"You can't! If I lose this job then I'll have to go back to being a street performer!"
"Then start acting more responsible."
