Welcome to the Family

"You did WHAT?"

"Listen, ma'am, he saw me do what I did. Leaving him there would have blown our cover."

She waves a hand in my face and runs a hand through her greying brown hair. "December Eve, you are damn lucky you don't work for me."

I chuckle and mutter out, "Not by my choice."

"December, you just risked our operation and the integrity of the Compound. For that, I should kill you where you stand," I bow my head, bracing for the shot. "But I understand you were in a tough situation. So, as a punishment for simply being stupid, you are not to return to the field for a week. You will stay here and train recruits like you were supposed to do three weeks ago."

"Ah, you know I'm a busy man," I chuckle out. She rolls her eyes and smiles, waving me out of her office.

I bow my head and mutter," Arigato gozaimasu." She bows in response and I take that as my cue to leave.

I walk back out into the smell of grease and sweat. I walk down the platform and look over the edge, finding machines being built and training of new soldiers. I continue my walk and head toward the barracks, near the back of this hangar. I count the number on the door and stop at 314B. I knock gently and wait. No response. I knock again. No response.

Becoming more and more frustrated, I bang on the door, gruffly saying, "Open the door, Malcolm."

"Go away, Mr. eve," he says full of snark. "Can't a man have SOME privacy?"

I wait right outside the door and tap my foot. If he wants to play this game, fine. I'll be a good boy and wait.

He opens the door and my god does he look so sexy with no shirt on. Looking at him now, I see all the slight muscles he has. He sure as hell isn't a buff guy, but he has enough to where he looks less like a twink.

"Uh, earth to Eve?" I snap my gaze up to him and clear my throat. He raises an eyebrow and leans against the door frame, obviously waiting for me to explain.

"Can I come in? I just wanted to check in on you." He stares at me for a few seconds before moving out of the way, letting me pass.

I walk in to be attacked by a strong smell of vanilla and oranges; it reminds me a lot of my mother's house before she turned it into a crack den. I smile at the little things he did to clean up the place from the rugs on the floors to the drawings and sheets of scribbles on the walls. I walk up to one of them to see miniature doodles of, well, him.

"You do self-portraits?"

"I've never had a muse," he says with a smile in his voice as he moves around behind me.

I turn around to see him sliding a plain white shirt on. I observe the flexing of his back and he pulls it on, how it looks to see his back, his smooth and velvety back, roll like a cat. In his presence, I feel relaxed. Getting to spend this little time with him, I feel like I've known him for years.

He turns around, his eyes widening at the fact that I saw him pull that shirt on. I slowly walk over to him, and I wanted so badly to touch him. I wanted to caress his face and lay him down on this couch. I reach my hand up, and all I see is him. White cocoa skin is replaced by black, strawberry blonde hair is replaced by dreads. I panic and sink away from Dizzie.

"Why did you leave me, February?" His voice echoes around me, that baritone voice I loved. "I thought we could work it out, Feb. But you're greedy." He shoves me onto a bed, and I look around.

We're back at our old place, but it looks off. There's no light to it, no love. The walls are sunken in and the roof looks like it's about to burst. "You left, and this?" he gestures all around him as his face contorts, "This is what you left me with. You MONSTER."

I cry out as he dugs his hands into my skin, ripping at anything he could touch. He started to scratch and claw at me, making the center of my chest bleed. I scream as I sob, begging him to stop. The pain was unbearable; it was almost like if he was trying to dig through my heart. I try to break free, but it was almost if I was being held down by something. Something… gentle.

I hear a boy sobbing my name. Why was this angel crying? I tried opening my eyes, but I couldn't. He kept on crying my name, but I couldn't reach him through Dizzie.

"Decem… okay… wake up!" The angel kept crying, and I got more desperate. I got so desperate, I finally broke free of him and ran towards his voice. I broke through the wall, leaving him standing there. I felt my layers shed and saw my skinny, pale body beneath me. I hope the angel will still love me like this.

As I was running, the black paint peeled away, the forest began to clear. He was sobbing harder now, and the fear and pain began to strike more. I ran faster and faster until

"December, please wake up!" I open my eyes to feel tears trickling over my eyes. I blink them away to focus in on the weeping angel I heard.

"Mal..colm, I'm okay," I slur out and looks down, seeing the bloody mess that is my chest.

"Oh my god, Mr. eve," he cries out while patting down my face. "I-I thought something happened to you, or someone tried to bug your brain. I wouldn't know because I'm not a mad scientist or something. But, then you started scratching your chest and I got worried, so I called for a medic."

I smile at his antics and say softly, "I'm fine. All I would need is a few bandages to cover my wounds."

He pants softly and nods, sitting next to me. "That scared me so, so bad."

"Won't be the first time you witness that, kid." I look up to see Mockingbird leaning against the post. I can hear his playful smirk and he tilts his head.

I roll my eyes and smile. Malcolm relaxes and smiles at his presence. He walks in without a second word and sits down on the chair next to the window.

"So, this was the medic you called?"

"I was in a panic, okay?" he says with that sass of his. Mockingbird snorts and looks out the window.

"Uhm, Mr. eve?"

"December."

He playfully glares at me. "December?"

"Yes, Malcolm?"

"How… often do these happen?"

"Too often to count," Mockingbird rumbles out.

Malcolm looks over and him and scrunches his eyebrows, about to say something. I scrunch my eyebrows too; he said it almost like he knew. I mean, obviously he's been through the ring with me a few times, but there was something more. Like he was reminiscing a memory.

He snaps out of it and looks over at us. "Baby Bird and I discussed you being here, Malcolm. After she grilled Deci's ass, she called me in to discuss rank arrangement. So, Malcolm," he gets up, holding his hand out,

"Welcome to the family."