Derek turned away from the insistent patting on his cheek. It didn’t hurt; it was just annoying. And wet. It also echoed in his pounding head like the loud noise of a jackhammer.
He brushed it away with his fingers and mumbled, “Quit it.” Moments later the patting picked right back up.
“Hi,” a shy gentle voice spoke above him.
“What?” Derek raised his eyebrows without opening his eyes. His eyelids felt too heavy to lift.
As he was coming awake his lips felt dry, his mouth was full of cotton balls and his stomach churned and burned full of acid, and there was a load on his bare chest. And his cheek felt wet. He felt like death, and all he wanted to do was go back to sleep.
The patting on his cheek kept on, and he went completely still when he felt warm breath on his cheek. The load on his chest shifted, and the warm breath traveled up to his ear.
“Hi,” the little voice shouted at the top of its voice in his ear and he immediately went on alert.
He forced his eyes open and didn’t have a chance to hide his surprise when he saw the little face so close to his, they touched noses. She titled her head to the side, and her hair entered his eye forcing him to blink. He felt her pull her head away and opened his eyes just in time to see her brush her curls back with the back of her hand, the other clutched a purple elephant to her chest. Once she’d sufficiently brushed her errant curls behind her ears, she took back her position pressing her nose against his, her brown eyes staring deep into his. For the first time in his life, even after getting shot and stabbed multiple times, jumping out of planes and that one time he’d been held prisoner and tortured in Syria, he was never scared shitless like that very moment. He didn’t twitch, not even when her hair fell back forward threating to stab his eyes again.
“Hi,” she repeated.
Derek opened his mouth, but he couldn’t respond. His tongue lay dead in his mouth.
“Katya, who do you have there?”
Derek noted the guarded note in Damien’s voice even when he tried to sound cheerful. He couldn’t see his face, so Derek couldn’t blame him. And if he weren’t so panicked, maybe his voice would come back, and he could announce himself.
Katya straightened and looked behind her for a moment before she went back to staring at Derek, her head leaned to the side as if she was examining a new species and wondering how to get it to communicate. Derek was so close to calling out for help from his cousin, but he was afraid of making a sound and scaring her off. He could feel Damien’s slow and careful approach and cursed him for not moving faster. He was sweating vodka bullets under the intense scrutiny of his daughter.
Dear God, my daughter!
“Oh it’s you,” the words followed a heavy sigh of relief. Damien squatted kissing the top of Katya’s head first before he turned to look at Derek pinned to the floor. And chuckled, “Princess, you caught yourself a burglar ha.”
Derek glared at him, finding his voice he hissed through clenched teeth, “Not funny. Get her off.”
Damien moved his head side to side in a maybe, maybe not gesture. “I don’t know; she looks mighty comfortable. And she just caught her first intruder, let her enjoy her first arrest.”
“Haddy ha ha!” Derek grumbled.
Katya’s index finger punched the tip of his nose as she turned to face Damien, her hair flying with the momentum, “Daddy?”
The word sounded like ‘da-thi’, but the question in it wasn’t lost to Derek. He was pretty close to having a panic attack now.
Damien nodded and in a sing-song voice answered, “Yup honey, you arrested your daddy. Mommy is going to be so proud.”
“She knows who I am?” Derek squeaked, not taking his eyes off her.
“I’m not sure she even understands what the word means. She just repeats what her cousins say. Katya, who am I?”
“Daddy!” she responded with a loaded giggle that shot right through Derek’s heart and making him gasp from the intense emotion.
“I know Elaine’s finally got her to call her mommy, Ellie Lili, and Tasha Titi. It wasn’t easy either. She’s stubborn like her parents.” Damien looked down at Derek, “but that is where the similarities end.”
“What do you mean?”
Damien smiled at Katya and in a very annoying baby talk he said, “Well, mommy and daddy are so secretive, distant and closed off. But pwincess Katya is open and loving and always smiling and laughing,” he tickled her and Katya bounced in a fit of giggles on Derek’s chest making him wince and groan, “Aren’t you beautiful?”
Derek groaned one last time when Katya burrowed down then launched herself off him and into Damien’s arms. Damien stood with her twirling her around and making her laugh again. A different feeling filled his chest, and Derek didn’t like it one bit. Jealousy.
He sat up and looked around. Though stark with just a bed and a wardrobe, the room was painted pink and so were the beddings. “Where am I?”
“In Katya’s room.”
Derek looked up at his cousin and met his daughter’s penetrating gaze instead. A little kid shouldn’t scare him so much, “And how did I get here?”
“No idea. But it’s comforting to know you can get in and out of secured places dead drunk. The bathroom is through there. I’ll just go get you some fresh clothes and leave them in the next room after I take this one down to breakfast.”
Damien turned and left the room as Derek sat up and watched them leave. Katya kept her eyes on Derek as they walked away then at the door she gave him a big four teeth smile and waved her hand up and down and said, “Bye bye daddy.”
He lifted his hand and waved back. Once she was out of sight, he let out a heavy breath and rubbed his hands over his face repeatedly. How in the hell did he end up sleeping on the floor in his daughter’s room? Then he remembered Katarina driving away with Daniel, which raised his hackles, the drive to the bar and nothing else. Did he drive here? He groaned, thinking made his head hurt worse. He pushed himself off the floor and dragged himself to the bathroom. He showered and was grateful when he found a new toothbrush under the sink. He finally felt human again, though his head still ached. He exited through the door that led to another room—he liked the Jack and Jill bathrooms—and found clothes on the bed. He got dressed and went downstairs to breakfast, he just hoped he wouldn’t greet the entire clan. He was glad when he found just his cousins and their wives who looked as bad as he felt and of course Katya on Dale’s lap. He was unsuccessfully trying to feed her. The closer he brought the spoon, the further back she would lean and the louder she would whine.
“Look who it is, Katya’s first arrest,” Damien announced, and he and Dale laughed. Their wives, however, pressed their hands over their ears and groaned.
“That wasn’t funny the first time you said it.” Derek found himself in the seat next to Dale and Katya. His daughter, her head bent over backward stared at him just as intensely as before. What was it she was looking at? What did she see?
“I don’t know… it shows a lot of promise in a future career. Especially if she can pin a man down with just a look.” Dale added.
Derek mockingly laughed with his cousins then turned back to stare at Katya. “Should she be bent over like that?”
‘She’s a weird one, your kid,” Dale straightened her out then lifted her off his lap onto Derek’s, “She’s a fussy eater too. Here you try.”
Derek froze staring into the eyes of his captor. How she could render him so useless with just a look was frightening. What the hell was he supposed to do with her?
“Derek, wake up and feed your kid,” Dale said laughingly.
Derek glared at him and took the bowl of cereal and fruits he handed over. Feed her, nothing to it. He placed the bowl on the table in front of him then lifted Katya up next to it.
She smiled at him, pointed at him with a little finger and looked around at the other adults at the table and said, “Daddy.”
This time, the declaration didn’t send him into a panic. In fact, it warmed him, and he smiled at her when she turned back at him.
“Yes, he is, and it’s about damn time,” Tasha grumbled from across the table, her eyes set on him.
“Are you trying to glare at me?” Derek teased.
“It may not show on the outside, but on the inside I’m shooting laser beams. Flesh melting laser beams like those on Star Trek.”
The guys scoffed but quickly covered with fake coughs when Tasha turned her glare-that-could on them.
He nodded, “Ah, then I’m cringing on the inside too.”
Ellie, however, gave him a tired smile, “You’re here now, and that’s what matters.”
Yeah, except Derek hadn’t said anything about staying. He lifted a spoon of cereal and banana to Katya’s mouth. She opened up and took it. Derek gave a triumphant smile when he pulled out the empty spoon. He knew this wouldn’t be too bad.
“Don’t be so happy. She eats for a new face all the time. Elaine know you’re here?” Dale asked killing his win, twice.
Derek’s jaw clenched, but he held his smile for Katya’s sake as he fed her.
“Elaine left with Daniel last night,” Damien reported to Derek’s annoyance.
What annoyed him most was the startled looks on the girls faces followed by cheeky grins.
“Way to go, Elaine,” Tasha laughed then whined when Ellie elbowed her in the ribs.
“It’s fine. We agreed to live our lives. She’s living hers, and I’m happy for her,” the bold faced lie spewed out of Derek’s mouth.
“Yeah? So happy you woke up drunk on your daughter’s bedroom floor. How long were you there anyway and how did you get in?” Damien asked.
“No idea. But you’d better up your security just in case.” He addressed Damien in that last part. He hated to think his daughter wasn’t as secure as he’d believed she was in his cousin’s home.
Look at me, getting all fatherly. He stared at Katya as she slowly chewed, her cheeks looking like pink inflated balloons. And so what if I now want to be a dad. I’m leaving the CIA anyway. And he would have no excuse for missing out on her life.
“Yeah, Dale. We should probably look into that too before the twins come along.” Ellie leaned against the back of the chair, closed her eyes and rubbed her temples with the tips of her fingers.
“Twins? What twins?” Dale demanded. He’d gone completely rigid next to Derek.
“Your twins,” Tasha answered mimicking her twin’s actions.
The look on Dale’s face told Derek that it was news to Dale he was going to have two more kids. Derek turned to Damien, and he looked just as shocked and confused.
“Girls, maybe you would like to expound on that,” Derek shifted Katya on his lap to see Ellie and Tasha clearly. That didn’t last long because she pushed herself to her feet and stood on his lap. He had to turn out of the chair to clear his line of sight.
The girls paused their ministration and looked at each other then turned to Dale. The same time Ellie asked, “I didn’t tell you?” Tasha said, “She didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?” Dale’s voice raised in clear agitation.
Ellie stood up from her chair, walked around the table to Dale and sat in his lap, her back to Derek. “Honey, Elaine got us a surrogate and she’s four months pregnant.”
Dale didn’t respond, but judging by how his fingers dug into Ellie’s back, he was suffering some intense emotions.
“How… what… when…” he spat out.
“It doesn’t matter. Babe, we’re finally going to have more kids, twins!” Her joyous exclamation sounded tearful.
Dale hugged her then, his head on her shoulder and Derek saw the tears spilling from his squeezed shut eyes. He was happy, and Derek was glad for him.
“Boo-boo?” Katya whispered, leaning forward to wipe away Dale’s tears asking in her way if he was hurt.
Derek hugged her close to him, kissing her cheek, “No baby. Uncle Dale is just happy. Those are happy tears.” Even with the explanation she didn’t look convinced until Dale smiled at her.
****