InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "-and yet it lives?"

bo hess has a dream (alreadyscared) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2011-02-10 03:16:00

Entry tags:

bo hess, parker, peter fleming

WHO: Bo Hess, Peter Fleming, and Parker
WHAT: Breakfast with the quite possibly the oddest family unit ever.
WHEN: Right after this.
WHERE: Their apartment.
RATING: TBD
STATUS: In Progress

Although Bo had dreamt about this very thing happening, she still was understandably upset when she woke to find herself in a bedroom that looked like her room but wasn't. After tiptoeing to the other bedroom, already knowing what she would find when she looked and sure enough being right, she promptly tried to leave the apartment. When the pain hit her however she returned quickly and then proceeded to hide in her closet, clinging to her PDA as though it were her only lifeline. Which, in a way, it was.

Fortunately, after speaking with Peter and meeting the man she was now staying with - who was also named Peter - Bo had calmed down enough to realize that she couldn't actually hide in the closet forever. There wasn't a bathroom, or food, and it wasn't very comfortable besides. So she decided to do what her daddy had told her months earlier and eat her cereal in the kitchen like she was supposed to. The fact that the Peter she was staying with had offered to bring it to the closet helped encourage her decision. After all, if a grown-up was willing to do that for a kid they didn't even know, Bo didn't think they could be that bad.

Of course, agreeing to eat in the kitchen and being somewhat at ease was a far cry from actually going into the kitchen with someone she still didn't know very well. However she forced herself first to leave the confines of her closet, then her bedroom, and bit by bit cautiously made her way to the kitchen. Pausing in the doorway, the little girl clutched her PDA to her chest and took a deep breath. She could be brave, she told herself. Peter - her Peter - wanted her to be brave so she could do it.

With that thought in mind, Bo finally entered the kitchen and silently made her way to the table.

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themiddlegame
2011-02-10 09:14 am UTC (link)

The one thing that Peter could be thankful for at the moment was that the kitchen was well stocked. Marriage was not something that he'd ever intended to do again for various and sundry reasons. This applied especially to one that involved him waking up in a bed with someone he didn't even know without the benefit of a drunken evening prior and a seriously bad hangover. And to throw a kid in along with it seemed positively sadistic, but Peter figured he might as well settled into the situation rather than fighting it.

He'd poured out the cereal into the bowl, taking out the milk, and setting both on the table along with a spoon, the whole setting ready and waiting as he crossed the room to start up the coffee maker. It might have been early in the morning, but if he was going to cope with this situation properly, he needed to be more awake than he was.

Spotting Bo out of the corner of his eye, Peter turned back to what he was doing. She was old enough to manage on her own, and he didn't want to spook her into going back to the closet again. Best to let her adjust in her own time now that she was out.

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alreadyscared
2011-02-10 09:34 am UTC (link)

Climbing into the chair, Bo propped herself up on her knees and very carefully poured the milk into the bowl. She was glad it wasn't one of the big jugs of milk, like she had back home. Those were much trickier to use and typically ended with either half of the jug on the table and floor or Bo having to ask for help. With her family, that wasn't such a big deal. With a man she didn't even know, however, it would have probably taken a little more courage than she had mustered thus far.

Once she'd put the milk away, she carefully picked up her glass of water and took a sip. Setting it on the table, Bo cast a glance toward Peter then started to push her chair toward the sink. Using it as a makeshift step stool, she got another glass from the cabinet and filled it with more water. After setting it down on the table beside her cereal, with the other mostly full glass placed strategically on the counter closest to the kitchen's entrance, Bo was finally ready to sit down and eat.

Scooping up some of the cereal, she raised the spoon to her mouth... only to pause before taking a bite as someone else entered the kitchen.

Parker, she reminded herself as she ducked her gaze. Her name was Parker and Peter had said she was safe. Bo, however, was still wary. Parker, though, didn't seem to notice or at least didn't let on if she had. A bit relieved at not being forced to speak, Bo finally started to eat her cereal.

Meanwhile, Parker simply stood there for a second, gaze cutting from Bo to Peter, before she finally shrugged and made her way to the cold air return vent located on the wall nearest the coffee maker. She had a theory and, until she'd checked out her theory, she really didn't feel like talking to her new 'husband' or the tiny child who looked as though she was ready to flee at the first sign of anything out of the ordinary.

Which probably said a lot about Parker's idea of ordinary when, not a few seconds after the thought had crossed her mind, she pulled the vent cover off and promptly climbed inside until just her feet were sticking out. A heartbeat later there was a loud "Aha!" that could be heard echoing through the duct work and Parker re-emerged, a knapsack clasped tightly in her hand. Unzipping it and double-checking the contents inside, her smile was a pleased one when she finally glanced to her new family.

"Looks like all our stuff came with us to our new place. Score!" she announced brightly, as though either was aware of what she was even talking about, before crossing to the table and plopping down in a chair across from Bo.

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themiddlegame
2011-02-10 10:09 am UTC (link)

Filling multiple water glasses for undetermined reasons and hiding things in the ventilation shafts, Peter felt the confusion rise even as he was working to keep it down. It had been a long, long time since he'd shared a home with someone, even longer since he'd shared one with a tiny child, and quite a bit longer since he'd shared it with anything even remotely resembling a family unit. As the coffee maker perked to life, he breathed a quiet sigh of relief at the fact that he might actually be able to comprehend all of this soon enough.

Pouring himself a cup of coffee when it finally managed to finish brewing, Peter fished out the sugar and retrieved the milk, tempering his coffee with both before putting them back. Picking up the cup and turning back to the pair sitting at the table, Peter leaned back against the counter as he took a sip and glanced between the two of them before turning his attention down to the wedding ring on his hand. It felt...wrong somehow, but he supposed he had no choice.

"Well, isn't this a lovely picture of domesticity at..." Peter paused, turning his hand to check his watch. "4:30 in the morning?"

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inafivepoundbag
2011-02-10 10:34 am UTC (link)

Busy going through her knapsack to check the inventory still contained her emergency stash of cash in crisp, nonnumerical bills, her brand new night vision goggles, a harness and zip-line, as well as a few other odds and ends, Parker had almost forgotten anyone else was in the room with her. At the sound of Peter's voice, her head jerked up and she clutched her knapsack to her chest as though she feared he might be intending on snatching it out of her hands. After realizing he was still over by the counter, she relaxed her death grip on the bag and shrugged her shoulders.

"Who says morning has to start on or after sunrise?" she questioned, pulling a fortune cookie out of the side zipper of the bag. Opening the wrapper that held the cookie, she cracked it in half and pulled out the fortune. With a snort, she put the small slip of paper on the table and popped half of the fortune cookie into her mouth.

"What's it say?"

The voice, soft-spoken and curious, made Parker turn her attention to Bo. She shifted a bit in her seat, a vague look of discomfort crossing over her face when the little girl held her gaze and didn't look away. Kids liked doing that, she noticed. They would stare at you like they could see right through you. It was creepy. But in an effort not to make the girl think she'd done something wrong, Parker didn't tell her to stop looking at her. She just finished chewing her cookie then picked the piece of paper back up.

"Everyone makes mistakes. The trick is to make mistakes when no one is looking," she read, grinning again and putting the paper back on the table. Falling silent for a second, fingers drumming idly against the table, she looked back to Peter as Bo returned to her cereal.

"Do you have a job yet? Because I do and I can't steal back money if I've got a kid attached to my hip." A brief pause and she glanced toward Bo. "No offense."

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themiddlegame
2011-02-12 11:50 pm UTC (link)

"I managed to procure one the other day, yes," Peter said, taking a drink of his coffee as he glanced between the pair of girls sitting at the table. "There has to be some sort of daycare service in this town," He said, frowning slightly to himself. They could hardly just leave her here on her own. She wasn't old enough for that, and she didn't look old enough for school, either. This was going to be tricky since Bo hardly seemed the type of kid to just adjust to simply anyone.

This was vaguely surreal, sitting in a small flat discussing daycare options, since it had been so long since he'd done anything like this, but it felt... Good, somehow. Grounding, refreshing. Normal. And even as much as he knew the boredom would eventually end up clawing its way back into his mind, this was unexpected enough that he was more amused by it than he might have been otherwise.

Taking another sip of his coffee, Peter glanced over at Bo with a curious look on his features, "Did Peter, your Peter, used to take you to work with him?" He asked, deciding it was best to give her a voice in the matter rather than just acting like she wasn't in the room. "Or did he make other arrangements?"

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alreadyscared
2011-02-13 05:57 am UTC (link)

Bo straightened up a little, turning in her chair to peer up at Peter when he spoke directly to her. Her brow furrowed slightly in thought, the corners of her mouth tugging briefly downward. "He took me with him," she finally stated, head tipping ever so slightly as though in confirmation of what she was saying. She took a bite of her cereal, chewed and swallowed, then added, "I'd talk to the sick people when he worked."

Parker shook her head a bit. Clearly, Bo couldn't go to work with her. She wasn't sure if this Peter had the sort of job that allowed a child but a casino wasn't where a little girl needed to be. But maybe they could work something out that didn't involve sending the kid to stay with strangers.

"You work days, right?" she questioned, gaze cutting to her 'husband'. Yeah. She definitely needed to come up with a better term than that. It made her want to itch, just thinking it in her head. "Because I mostly work nights," she continued. "Maybe we can just switch?" It seemed like the easiest solution to her.

Bo didn't see any reason to object and couldn't think of anything better. She knew going to stay with Peter was out, for the time being. She just hoped it got better soon. Looking from Parker to Peter, she turned back to her cereal.

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themiddlegame
2011-02-13 06:28 am UTC (link)

Taking Bo with him was hardly an option. Maybe when he was working in the office, sure, but when he had to go out to monitor the construction sites (which he would as soon as he got some up and running), it simply wouldn't be safe for someone her age to be around for any length of time. But switching responsibilities, that sounded doable. Though, there was one question that begged asking. If she worked mostly at night, and yet was up this early... Peter took a sip of his coffee as he glanced over at Parker with a quirked eyebrow, "And when will you sleep?"

Because watching Bo at night would be a simple enough task for him. Dinner, entertainment, and then bed. The most pressing thing would likely be dealing with any nightmares that might crop up, but he had a practiced (even if severely rusty) hand at doing that. He just had to try and remember how it worked and possibly get re-used to the idea of giving up the majority of the bed to a tiny space stealer.

"But that should work," Peter said, finishing off his coffee and setting the cup aside, running a hand back through his hair as he blinked twice. He might as well be wide awake now. He'd just go and make a decent first impression on his first day of work by being extra early.

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inafivepoundbag
2011-02-13 06:43 am UTC (link)

Parker shrugged at his question, clearly not all that concerned. "I only work three nights a week," she pointed out. "I can manage." She went longer than that without sleep during really long-running cons. How much tougher could it be to watch a kid? She could handle it. She was sure of it.

Setting her knapsack on the floor, Parker stood and made her way to the coffee pot. She poured herself a cup and hopped up on the counter, feet swaying idly as they dangled in mid air. "And if I have to, I'll take off work until this is over. It won't last very long," she stated with absolute certainty. "A couple of weeks. Maybe a month. Then things will go back to normal."

With a pause, Parker snorted. "As normal as they get around here anyway," she admitted with a grin, raising her coffee cup to her lips and taking a sip.

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themiddlegame
2011-02-13 07:13 am UTC (link)

She could take off work for a month without any serious repercussions? Peter was sure that he couldn't have heard that right. Sure, back home, he could have as well with very little overall effect to ARK or any of his other developing projects. But to do so here with so little resources at hand... Then again, she'd been here a great deal longer than he had. Maybe he was missing something that she wasn't so freely revealing. Maybe it really didn't matter that she missed a month's worth of paychecks. Maybe she didn't need them.

She did say she was a thief, after all, and the one thing that all thieves (good thieves) had in common was that they were capable of making large sums of money in very short spans of time.

"You could," Peter said, looking over at her, the curiosity rather clear on his features. "But I do think your cash flow would suffer rather greatly from it."

Now, to gauge the reaction.

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inafivepoundbag
2011-02-13 07:28 am UTC (link)

Parker knew her cash flow would suffer. It was why she had suggested they try taking turns, first. But she didn't like the idea of Bo with strangers. So if they couldn't manage to switch, if she had to take off work... well, that's just what she'd do. She wasn't hurting for cash, even if she always wanted more of it.

Meeting his gaze, she slid her hand into the pocket of the jacket she wore and pulled out a roll of bills. The total was somewhere near four thousand. She tossed it to Peter then raised her coffee cup to her lips. "That's what I made last night. A little slow but it'll pick up by Saturday," she said casually as she took a sip of coffee then smiled.

Bo's eyes were wide as she stared at the wad of bills. She forgot all about her cereal, the spoon dangling over the bowl from suddenly lifeless fingers as all of her attention went to the money. She was from a modest home, with a family who didn't have a lot but made do with what they had. Suddenly realizing she was staring, the girl blinked and dropped her attention to her food. Diligently, she went back to eating, gaze cutting to the money in between bites.

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themiddlegame
2011-02-13 08:24 am UTC (link)

Peter had held this much money before, often, and while he was vaguely impressed that she'd managed to find an outlet that allowed her to make this much cash in one night (and legally, he could only presume), he idly turned it in his hands before offering it back to Parker, "Decent take away, then. I would hate for you to lose a good 50,000 dollars," Peter said, figuring that if that was a small pay day, a month's worth of wages with her working three days a week would add up to almost that much. A year's salary for the average individual, and with the way that Bo had gawked at the money, more than a year for what she was used to.

"I'm sure we can manage without anyone having to make too great an adjustment to their routine."

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inafivepoundbag
2011-02-13 08:30 pm UTC (link)

Clearly, he was missing the point. Yes, Parker knew she'd lose a good chunk of change if she took off work for a month. But if there was one thing she would always put before money, it was kids. And if the city wanted her responsible for this kid for a month, she'd do what she had to do to make sure Bo was taken care of. Even if it meant giving up what most people wouldn't even make in a year.

"Closer to ten grand," she said casually as she took the bills and stuck them back into her pocket. "Once you add in bonuses. And me taking off work is just a worst case. Crowley would let me but he wouldn't like it." Honestly though, Parker doubted it'd come to that. If nothing else, she'd just take Bo to the clinic to visit with Peter Petrelli during the day while she grabbed a nap in one of the empty exam rooms. Provided the city didn't decide to make her suffer in agony for trying to be nice.

Stupid city.

"Can I have another glass of water?"

Bo's soft-spoken voice made Parker's gaze snap back to the girl. Peter - Petrelli, that is - had warned her the girl had some sort of water thing that was best not to question. However most of what Parker was told tended to be ignored until after she'd done exactly what they said not to do. So while she wasn't going to immediately tell the kid no, she definitely wasn't doing it without a good reason either.

"What's wrong with the one you've already got?" she asked. Already she was sliding off the counter and going in search of a glass, knowing she'd hand the water over regardless of the reason she was given. However she did stop, briefly, to stare at the girl in mild shock at that reason.

"It has dust in it. And the one before that is stale." The little girl grew quiet for a second before adding in a tone that was laced with a touch of amusement born from a lifetime of being used to people finding her reasons odd. "And the one by my bed was contaminated too. It has germs from the air that dropped in it."

Parker didn't comment. She just nodded, held out the new glass of water, then met Peter's gaze with a look that clearly asked if this was normal behavior for a small child or if their 'kid' was apparently as unique as they both seemed to be.

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