I cannot defend you, but I'll try and I'll be there.

[callinallfreaks]

All is quiet in the Kashtta lobby. You know, the way things ...probably shouldn't be, considering the Kashtta, but that's beside the point. At least it doesn't stay that way for long

Comments

[doyoulikecake]

Kaden smiles at her expression when he spots her coming toward him. He'd been watching for her; he's actually surprised it took her this long to find them, given that he's her ward and this is her son. But the expression makes the wait worth it. The hints of panic under the anger, and how angry she is in the first place... He knew he'd get something new out of her, now that she's back in his life. He knew it. It's almost a relief.

He does let her wipe the smile off his face, even if his automatic reaction to being hit is to laugh in the face of the attacker, when she smacks him in the face. "I've done nothing to him," he says, involuntarily touching his face where she hit him. "Do you really want to bring that part of our childhood into his life?"

For a moment he stares at her, eyes cold and not-quite-angry, and then he breaks a bit, with a sigh. It's calculated, and she can probably feel that, but it's also incredibly familiar. Let her wonder how much of his childhood love was a front; it doesn't change the fact that he loves her, or that she's tied to him. So he reaches out, putting a hand on her shoulder, comforting her even though she's the one who hit him, he's the one who caused the pain. Just like old times, with added physical pain -- not that he could feel it, really.

"Oh, Yokko," he says, switching to English. "You can't expect me not to be a part of my nephew's life. He's a good kid. And besides, you were keeping ice cream from him. I couldn't exactly let that go on, you know." His tone's light, joking, now. As far as anyone could see, all is forgiven. Never mind that he was never angry at her to begin with.

[idontlikecake]

He did not -- he did not just compare her to their father. Granted, her first reaction to the conflict was violence, and -- no, she can't write it off, even if he deserved it. That would only make her worse. More like him. But it's not like she's honestly found herself in a conflict, stuck between a rock and a hard place in five years. With James, she could easily pull herself out of any little disputes they could have. Not so much with Kaden.

Jessi drops her hand to her side, trying not to look defeated, angry, or apologetic. She can't apologize to him. Not yet. She's apologized enough already. More than he deserves. All of the emotions right here are calculated. She can feel it; she knows it. In order to survive, she has to try. She has to try for non-affected calm, even if she knows Kaden will read right through it. It's not for them; it's for everyone else. Everyone else who is watching. It's for her son. It's for keeping up appearances. The neighbors and friends. It's sick.

The hand on her shoulder she tolerates for now. It's easier, when she sees it coming. Jessi thinks it's kind of pathetic that the nightmares haven't gone away, even though Kaden's here again. So now she has to live the nightmare, on top of dreaming them. No. That's not fair. Kaden has been so good to her. So good to her that it's hard to even blame this on him. Was he trying to torture her, or was he really trying to do something good for her son?

Trying to figure out his motives is going to kill her. She's going to go crazy trying to figure out the chaos that lives within him. But she can't help it. She needs to know what's going on in there if she's going to fix him. If she's going to make him better.

So he gets a smile; it's not even a broken, apologetic smile. Yes, as far as anyone can see, all is forgiven. A public fight broken down into something that didn't matter at all.

But still, he took Justin away from daycare without her permission. And when he's paying for it, she doesn't know how to tactfully tell the daycare that her brother isn't allowed to pick him up. So, with the smile still on her face, Jessi tells him, her tone genial and sweet, "There is a difference between being part of my son's life, and taking him without my permission. When you want to spend time with him, you ask. I have to know."

Considering she's speaking Japanese in a sweet tone, no one would question what she's saying. It's easier that way, not letting people know what she's saying.

"And I was keeping ice cream from him for a reason; I'd prefer not to have to tell him that we can't have it every day."

[doyoulikecake]

He doesn't need her to apologize. He knows it's there, whether she wants to admit to it or not. She doesn't have to show him anything to let him know she's sorry. Just the smile is enough, the fact that she's putting up the right front -- she never could get away from that. He grins back, briefly giving her a pat on the shoulder before taking his hand away to stir the ice cream he's still holding.

"It's okay," he says as if she had apologized. "I'm used to it anyway."

He takes a bite of ice cream, watching Justin enjoy his. "I'll be sure to let you know," he says, as if that's actually acquiescence to her request. He knows it's not, she knows it's not, but she couldn't have expected him to really just go along with any request she made of him, could she? Besides, he doubts she'd let him take Justin by himself anywhere, if she knew ahead of time.

Justin, he doesn't actually want to hurt. He doesn't want to do much of anything with, but he does object to some of Lily's parenting. She's not enrolling the kid in a school, she overprotects, and she's terrible at saying no.

"You need the practice," he starts, but then Justin's licking the ice cream scoops off the cone. Kaden leans over, just barely catching the falling scoop in his cup. "Woah, kiddo, careful there. I'm not buying you more if you drop it on the sidewalk."

He very carefully maneuvers the scoop back on the cone with his spoon and the edge of the paper cup, then ruffles Justin's hair. "There you go," he says, then turns back to Lily, waving at her to come sit down with them. "Then you explain that it's only for special occasions, if you really can't stomach saying the word 'no'."

[idontlikecake]

Jessi gives her brother a sweet smile. "No, Kaden," she says, sounding perfectly nice. "You'll ask me. Because there's always a chance I have, you know. Other plans."

Not that they don't share basically all of their plans outside of work and school. She sits next to her son, giving him a hug, the act of which pulls him a bit away from Kaden. Justin looks up at his mom with ice cream on his face and a big grin. "I'm four," he tells her chipperly.

"Yup. You are," Jessi agrees.

"And I don't need you to tell me how to parent," she adds. "You're not his father. On another note, I got the job that you don't want me to have."

[doyoulikecake]

Kaden just shrugs. Because it's not as if he's going to need her to be there every time he's with Justin -- she'll get in the way. Not that he's planning on doing anything to the kid but, oh, maybe teach him Japanese. And the word 'no'. And see that he gets proper schooling.

He watches Lily and Justin with a genuine smile on his face. He's surprised to find that he actually likes the kid. Possibly it's because he's Lily's.

He also ignores the statement about parenting, because while he's sure she's an adequate parent -- Justin's certainly doing science and still alive -- he feels certain things need to be addressed, and knows that talking to her about them is not going to fix it. And Justin could use a father figure in his life anyway. Not that he really wants to be said father figure. He's fine with uncle. Very involved uncle, but very firmly in the 'uncle' territory.

The smile disappears when she mentions the Biosys job, and he sighs. "There were legitimate reasons I warned against interviewing," he says. His face doesn't read much of anything, but she could probably tell he was disappointed in her, maybe a little worried, even without the guardian bond. "You know they only want you for your name."

[idontlikecake]

Jessi quirks her lip at him, mildly annoyed. She's well aware of why he didn't want her interviewing; she's not entirely sure he knows why she interviewed at all. Taking Justin's spoon from him for a moment, she hand feeds him the ice cream. It's her son's birthday; they should be focusing on him, not her.

It would take a miracle for her brother not to focus on her. But that doesn't mean she won't try to shift the moment a bit.

"I'm well aware of that, Minoru," she informs him. "And I only want them for their keycard. If you want me to believe I'm not dumb, don't treat me like it."

[doyoulikecake]

"I'm not treating you like you're dumb," he says. "I just think you're not as informed about this position as you think you are." She's not entirely aware of why he didn't want her interviewing -- oh, the fact that Biosys is more than they appear to be on the outside he doesn't hide in the least, given that she can feel when he does some of his more questionable work. But he knows she doesn't know about Lyle. Or what it is they're actually doing to people. It's more Lyle he's worried about; given her humanitarian tendencies, he can't imagine her bleeding heart not getting in the way. And he's sure Biosys thinks she's like any other Fuchizaki.

He's not losing his sister to his job.

He watches her feed Justin, then reaches out and ruffles the kid's hair again. "Hey, now that you're mom's here, how about we go get your presents?" he asks Justin, with an only-slightly-challenging eyebrow raise to Jessi. Hey, to anyone else, it's going to look like he's asking permission.

[idontlikecake]

It's better that they drop this conversation for now. It's Justin's birthday, and there will be hell raised if Kaden thinks he's going to screw that up. She quirks her lip at her brother, but doesn't raise any protest. The presents better not be too ridiculous, or she's going to have to have words with him.

That's a joke. She knows she won't be able to bring this up again.

Justin's eyes light up at the mention of presents, though. He nods his ice cream-smeared face rapidly, reaching out a sticky hand for Kaden. "Are they in the car?" he babbles. "I like presents."

[doyoulikecake]

Kaden gives his nephew a smile, catching Justin's sticky hand. He pulls a napkin out of the wad in his pocket and wipes off said hand as best he can, but there's only so much sticky he can get off. They've needed a lot of napkins on this venture, and even then, there's not much one can do against a four-year-old with his first ice cream ever. "Sorry, kiddo, I left them in my apartment," he says, standing up and taking Justin's hand properly this time, despite stickiness. "Let's go get them, okay?"

And while he might be letting the Biosys conversation lie, he has other concerns. It is Justin's birthday, after all. Why not turn the conversation to him? "What schools have you considered for him, by the way?" he asks Jessi, looking quizzically over at her. He's got a list of the acceptable ones in the area, but he'll give her some say in it, he supposes. If she puts up a good enough argument, maybe he'll even go along with it.

[idontlikecake]

"Okay!" Justin says, jumping off the bench and swaying slightly. He tugs on Kaden's hand, jumping forward instead of walking. Because it's way more fun that way. Jessi rolls her eyes at her son, grabbing his other hand. "Do you think we can save the boxes so batman can have a new bat cave?"

"I think that's a great idea," Jessi says. "Wouldn't want the Joker to be able to find him in the toybox."

She pauses, glancing at Kaden shortly before looking back down at her son. It's easier saying this towards him, rather than Kaden. "I'm going to homeschool him, actually."

[doyoulikecake]

Kaden laughs at his nephew's antics, swinging his hand in time with Justin's jumps. "Definitely," he says. "We can even outfit it with the proper equipment." Hey, he can find any reason to turn playtime into a science (or whatever) lesson, and teaching Justin to build some of the more harmless gadgets could be fun.

He watches Lily look away from him, down at Justin, when she answers, and he smiles. Of course she can't say it to his face. She knows how he feels about the idea before he even has to say anything; she's always known him that well. It's comforting, in a way. "Do you really have the time for that?" he asks. "Especially now that you're determined to get this job."

[idontlikecake]

"Don't forget to talk about torsion," Jessi says. They really do look like the picture perfect family, swinging Justin along.

"I don't like torsion," Justin grumps.

"No, you just don't get torsion yet," she argues with her son, squeezing his hand. "You're four now. You should be able to understand that by now." It's a little harsh, maybe, but he is four. That's basic physics.

"Torsion doesn't like me," he whines.

"Physics don't like or dislike anyone," Jessi says, sounding mildly exasperated. "I'm sure now that you're four if we went home and looked at the Bat Cable, you'd understand everything."

"I am four," Justin agrees.

She doesn't answer Kaden's question. It's none of his business what she does or doesn't do with Justin's education. As much as they might look a family, Justin isn't part of their family.

[doyoulikecake]

Kaden doesn't necessarily ignore the conversation she's having with Justin, but he doesn't participate. There's nothing more to say than what she's saying, and he's not going to perpetuate something that helps her avoid his question.

"I suppose you could always get tutors for him," he muses as if she hadn't totally ignored him, "since you certainly won't have the time to make sure he gets a proper education from you. That is, if you're dead set against some of the better schools in the area." He glances back over at Lily, checking on her reaction. "I'd think you'd want him to get the best education possible, wouldn't you?"

[idontlikecake]

"I was planning on getting him tutors," Jessi says, trying to ignore Kaden's guilting. This isn't the time or the place for that, and part of her believes that's exactly why he's doing it. The other part of her believes that she shouldn't think that. She shouldn't put intent on his actions when he's so clear to her that he's changed. "And I've looked around. There aren't any schools I'd really like him to go to in the area, Minoru."

Mostly because they involve her getting even less time with her son. Although, she's already had to do that. For Kaden.

It hurts.

[doyoulikecake]

Kaden, on the other hand, believes this is exactly the time and place for that -- Justin has his ice cream, and doesn't know Japanese yet, and is four. Four is when you start looking at schools. Well, no, four is when they go to school; she should have been looking at schools much earlier.

"I know the schools around here are nothing like what we were sent to, but one has to take what one gets, if one isn't willing to get him a proper education," he says, still swinging Justin's hand as cheerily as ever. His voice is equally cheery. "I trust these tutors will be up to standard? Where are they from?"

Hey, they're important questions, Jessi.