Patrick blinks as Rosa takes the baby off of him, cooing to it. Angel gurgles and smiles. Paddy continues to stare at Rosa, before speaking.
Why the sudden change of heart? Last time I checked, you couldn’t get rid of Angel fast enough.
He was glad she was taking him, but he was still confused. He did notice the “for a while” and realized that, though she may be being all affectionate to him now Rosa would probably get dead bored soon and may even end up ditching him.
He smiles faintly as Rosa corrects Angel and the kid looks up at her, blinking large doe-like eyes.
Mama!
He replied dutifully, smiling and giggling as she kisses his forehead. He turned, calpping his hands at Patrick.
Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!
The child giggles even more as Rosa bounces him up and down, and Patrick watches for a moment. She hands Angel a coin, and Patrick’s grey eyes widen.
He might swallow it!
His pale hands itch to reach and take the coin off of Angel, but he manages to resist. Rosa speaks, just as another voice fills Patrick’s ears.
Startled, he turns, grey eyes falling on Zoey. His face softens, and he smiles. She wraps her arms around he flinches slightly, before placing a small hand on her back, half hugging her back. Lolli blinks down at Othello before giving the creature and affectionate lick. She lies down, turning and watching Rosa and Zoey.
We may have a problem here Pat-Pat.
Why? What do you mean?
He tries to turn and look at the tigress, who rolls her eyes, and pushes his mind back to the conversation. He looks at Zoey, then at Rosa, then back to Zoey. Lolli rolls mental eyes at him as he still draws up a blank.
Zoey this is Rosa. She’s Angel’s mum. She’s gonna be looking after him for a while. Rosa, this is Zoey. She’s…a very close, special friend.
He didn’t really know what Zoey was. All he knew was that she was special.
Pat-pat, you really have no clue in politics do you? You’re probably gonna start a fight.
Why?
Because they both like you. And Zoey’s probably gonna be upset, coz Rosa’s Angel’s mum. And Rosa’s probably gonna get annoyed coz you’re clinging to Zoey…
Patrick blinked, realizing his hand rested on Zoey’s back, just below where her ribs stopped. He hadn’t made any conscious decision, but now that he was consciously aware of his hand, it didn’t seem odd or weird. But storm eyes look back at Zoey, seeing the dagger glare she’s giving Rosa and he blinks.
Oh…
Is all he can say, before a lightning bolt strikes the wall. Angel looks up from the coin, giggles and claps, laughing loudly. Well, great Paddy. You’re probably gonna bring the death toll up a couple of hundred before this whole confrontation is even half way through. Fun right? Wrong. You’d better do something quick. Ah, but you can’t really think of anything can you? And Angel’s still in Rosa’s arms, and your hands still on Zoey’s back. Great dude, great.