Chapter 13: Can we play?

- No need to cry... - Clare had liked to tease others since she was a child, and thanks to this everyone she knew blamed her for Katarina's behavior since she had spent so much time with her since she was little; however, although she liked to pick on others a bit she always set herself a limit, and her limit was always to really hurt or offend someone, and by avoiding this line she always managed to keep her jokes without really upsetting anyone, but today she really made Julia cry. 'I've worked with her for so long and she's never minded a few jokes so.... What happened today?' Clare always made her "jokes" only after interacting with people for a while, so she was usually sure how far to tease someone, but now staring at Julia she wasn't sure she understood her even after so long.

- Under... That there's no chance? - Julia was doing her best to hold back her tears as she asked Clare this question.

Clare was dismayed and thought she might really like the army and if that was the case she would have to give up the idea of hiring her to work directly for her, but before she could make that mistake Maria's voice sounded from the sofa. - Stop crying Julia, you'll only change the job in a way... Now please help me... - Maria's voice sounded weak, but a slight tone of irritation was obvious in her voice.

- I know that, but... Sob! - Julia answered Maria tearfully, but after a few seconds she managed to control her crying a little and looked in Maria's direction and asked. - Sob... Change jobs? Under... I wasn't fired? - Julia asked, her voice a little shaky as she held back her tears.

- I was also fired from the army - Maria paused as she let out a groan of pain and then continued. - I was fired from the army so that Clare could hire me as a nanny... Well, at least the pay is better. - Maria feigned frustration in her voice as she said this, but she would still rather work for Clare than go and fight on the front line.

- A raise... How much has your salary gone up? - At this point there were no more tears left on Julia's face, just a slight wet trail from her eyes to the end of her cheeks indicating that she had just cried and if it hadn't been for that and her slightly red eyes it would have been impossible to tell that she had been crying until a moment ago, this left Clare surprised to say the least, it was impossible to see any hint of sadness in her eyes now, in fact they even looked a little excited, although her voice was still a little shaky; Clare still believed that it wasn't out of sadness or a desire to cry; on the contrary, Julia's voice reminded her of the voice of someone who could barely contain her anticipation and excitement. Arthur, who was watching the whole scene without really understanding what was going on, was surprised too, Julia's behavior reminded him of his sister, it was almost like the crying and tantrums she threw when she wanted a new game or toy, and although Julia's crying seemed authentic to Arthur, the ease with which he stopped reminded him of his sister when he promised to bring her what she wanted and this surprised him so much that his mouth was open in the shape of an "o".

- Ten times. - Maria replied after letting out a sigh, she could imagine the surprised face Clare must be making right now, after all, not many people knew that Julia had the gift of always being almost out of pocket, she was practically certain that if Julia didn't continue to receive her fees she would owe some people and maybe even companies, so to get her to accept right away she threw out the best possible bait.

- ...Ten times? - Julia stood still for several seconds just repeating the same thing like a broken record, and her mind was in a whirlwind of thoughts, which were predominantly about accounts, she was calculating whether the pay rise would compensate for all the benefits of her current job and when she finished she almost smiled, 'I can even finance a new car and change the furniture in no time' Julia was doing her best to contain her smile and with all the seriousness she could muster she raised her eyes and faced Clare before asking. - Gene... I mean, Clare... Clare, do you want to hire me like you did Maria? - Julia asked, doing her best to hold back her enthusiasm.

Clare looked at Julia with a strange face, she was able to understand a lot more about Julia after seeing her stop crying so quickly and keep muttering "Ten times" with a little smile forming on her face; for a few moments Clare wondered if she had chosen the right one, but as she was the only doctor she trusted enough and could also serve as a guard she decided to stick with her choice, after all, after what had happened today she would need to hire even more guards than previously planned and it would be good if at least one of them was a doctor. - ...Yes, I need some new staff and... I thought of you for one of the vacancies... - Clare said with a frown, showing the doubt on her face.

- I'd love to work for you Gene... Clare! - Julia gave up the idea of holding back her smile when Clare answered.

- Pfft... Ahaha... - Arthur started to laugh at Julia's reaction, after observing her for a while he actually found her behavior identical to his sister's, moreover, looking at Julia's behavior he couldn't fit her into the same girl from the hospital, although she had been friendly and funny during their conversation she was still someone Arthur saw as an "Adult", but looking at her smile now which resembled that of his sister when she got what she wanted, together with her "tantrum" from earlier only made him see his sister in Julia.

Julia's ears reddened slightly when she saw that a child was laughing at her, but she still tried to conform while saying to herself 'my behavior wasn't the best, I admit, but who cares about looking nice when a job that pays well, is full of benefits and has three days off a week is taken away from you for no reason? Especially if you have bills to pay!!!' Julia looked at Arthur who was still laughing as he looked at her, she got a little annoyed and looked at him kindly and with a smile said. - Arthur, I know it seems funny now, but when you're grown up, you'll understand; there are certain things we can't let go of. - Julia said this with a serious expression, it seemed as if a teacher was pointing out her pupil's mistake.

Arthur, seeing her expression, was a little confused; the tone and calmness she used to say it made him think that he had really failed to consider something, and his laughter disappeared without him noticing as he reflected on what it was that adults can't let go of.

- Sigh. - Seeing Arthur's expression, Clare sighed and shook her head in disapproval, but still didn't say anything about his speech and just stroked Arthur's hair while directing her eyes at Julia before speaking. - You're hired... Your first job is to help Maria, she's not going to die or anything, but I still think she'd like to avoid feeling so much pain just to heal without help.

Julia looked at the sofa again and noticing so much blood she got up and went to inspect the condition Maria was in; while she was inspecting Maria her gaze was focused and her expression was as neutral as ever, but just a few seconds later she was distracted by Maria's mocking voice. - Did you finally remember me?

-I'm sorry, it's just... - Julia was at a loss to answer Maria and decided to continue looking at her condition after failing to come up with an excuse.

- Cough, cough... It's okay, I know you shut down when certain issues... are involved - Maria started coughing again and decided to just wait in silence for Julia to finish examining her; after almost a minute had passed, she got up and picked up a suitcase she had brought with her, and before walking over to Maria she looked at Clare and spoke. - I think you'd better take him up to the second floor, try watching TV or listening to some music.

- Is it serious? - Clare put Arthur on his feet and took Sophie in her arms while she waited for an answer.

- Honestly? It depends on your point of view, if I let her heal herself the chance of survival is 50%... If I do emergency surgery and help her energy with mine, the chance is 90%, but the surgery has to be done now before her energy patches up the wounds anyway, but I didn't bring anesthesia and she needs to be awake to boost the energy... - Julia said this while looking pityingly at Maria, she knew it would be practically torture to be operated on while awake and without any anesthesia, but... - I know it's a bit inhumane to do something like that, but you know that a rifle shot like that is designed to kill mainly humans imbued with energy, and if Maria hadn't been strong, she would have died on impact... Just the fact that she's held out so far is incredible, but if I don't start in two minutes at the most I'd better not start and hoping that the energy doesn't make a mess of her organs... - She intended to keep pressing, after all, Maria's condition was really serious and as a doctor it was her duty to provide immediate assistance, but just as she was about to press Clare, Maria's voice rang out.

- Clare, it's going to be okay... You know I've been through worse, remember the last attack? I nearly lost a lung there! - Maria forced a smile as she spoke, she had turned to face Clare; seeing her smile made Clare grumpy, her lips were bleeding slightly, and her teeth were stained red. She felt a pang of sadness for her friend and, without thinking, glanced at the little boy in her arms. The thought of what might have become of him if not for her friend's intervention filled her with even more self-reproach. Though she knew it wasn't her fault, she couldn't shake the feeling of helplessness that had allowed things to escalate to this point. - Sigh... Right, if there's no other way then... - Clare tried to force a smile and turned to take Arthur's hand. - I'll put them to bed, do you need any help with anything? - Clare stopped walking when her right foot was on the first step of the stairs.

- No, I'll move she myself, it's safer too, and don't worry about listening to shouting or anything like that, I'll stop the sound perpetuating through the air, so good night... Good night to you too Arthur! - After hearing this, Clare nodded and went upstairs with Arthur and Sophie.

"This is already the second chapter where the last paragraph has disappeared when viewed on cell phones. To avoid this, I've decided to duplicate this message at the end of each chapter, hoping it will resolve the issue. If you're reading this, I apologize if it's intrusive, but it's a better solution than leaving the chapter incomplete."