He heard her steps coming down the hallway. He heard everybody’s steps, all the time. Brant was good, very good, but….it had been worse lately for him. In most ways, having Livy and Amelia here the last few weeks had been good for him. Every time he thought of that though, then he felt guilty about Shawna, and missed her horribly. Even though she was just in the other wing right now, he could hear her music thumping from the rec room, where she was probably playing video games.
An average guy, leading an average life
He tried his very best, to always do what’s right
Was he lookin’ for something to do?
Did he have something to say?
Or was he just trying – to run away?
Unfortunately for his guilt, he’d started to recognize the song, and he could damn sure hear the lyrics. It had become distracting, as it was the ninth time he’d heard it this afternoon already.
Right from the start his way of life was doomed
He kept his single life, locked in his single room
Nobody ever knew about it…
they never knew there was something wrong
His plastic world, could never last too long…
Worse, he knew it. Or he had. Why certain memories were still strong and others he questioned, this one he knew he knew. They’d been really popular when he was a teenager, and right after he joined the army. It’s why he’d bought it for her that day earlier this year when they were in Port Hedland. The last day they were together. On her birthday. When he couldn’t protect her, again. He could never seem to protect the ones he loved, only hurt them.
A couple weeks ago, he’d received a call from one of William’s multitude of assistants in Los Angeles. Apparently, he’d arranged a shipment from Australia. If Brett had known he was going to do that, he’s have taken more precautions, but…..well, it was done now. Vaguely he seemed to remember Titan say it but he wasn’t sure if he’d dreamed it, given all the turmoil of rescuing Gleam Shimmer and then so losing her at the same time he got Livy and ‘melia back. So he’d gone down to the port and filled out all the fucking paperwork. Then he’d arranged for it to be delivered to a mechanic he’d met a few years back, one who’d been on the receiving end of some pretty nasty choppers. It hadn’t even been Ghost Venom who’d helped the guy out, just regular old Oliver Smith, at least as far as Trey Minh was concerned anyway. A bit of an investment, and Trey now had a nice, small, but legitimate auto repair and installation business, in a much better part of San Diego.
An accident, changed the course of his life
His whole world had changed in a single night
He tried his best to hide his face from the world
He tried to get away from it all
But no one seemed to care about him
Nobody cared at all…
Trey had one major customer, Paragon Security Services. Oliver Smith trusted those he hired, and he trusted those others he hired to cross-check. As a result, he was fairly confident at the end of the day that nobody had put anything anywhere in the shipment of stuff that William had acquired from the various locations. The Anderson farmstead, the Taylor residence. Motorcycles for a certain someone, a yellow Camaro.
Reality… Is only skin deep
He tried so hard not to act like a white sheep
He wonders why everybody thinks he seems so strange…
Well it really doesn’t matter when reality is only skin deep
Brett had taken one of Apex’s security drones and had her remotely scan, with William’s permission of course, everything for anything that might even remotely be a bug, a tracker, unknown tech, anything. It had been dangerous, but thoughtful of William, to have his corporation “make arrangements to store the families belongings” after the police cleared the investigations as “unknown, suspicious, domestic violence, but missing persons.” Still, even now, most of it was going to sit in a secure storage location for a while where Brett and Apex could watch it. Just to make sure. If the storage happened to be a small, vacant house on the outskirts of San Diego to make it a more tempting target, well, it’s only paranoia if they aren’t out to get you. With what he personally considered amazing control, he had not searched thru any personal boxes from the Taylor house.
The records and vintage T-shirts he’d got her for her birthday that day had been in the back of the Camaro. He’d put them in their, well, her, room, the day before yesterday.
Right from the start his way of life was doomed
He kept his single life, locked in his single room
Nobody ever knew about it…
they never knew there was something wrong
His plastic world, could never last too long…
Reality… Is only skin deep
He tried so hard not to act like a white sheep
He wonders why everybody thinks he seems so strange…
Well it really doesn’t matter when reality is only skin deep
I said it really doesn’t matter when reality is only skin deep
Yeah it really doesn’t matter when reality is only skin deep
He’d actually lost track of her steps for a moment there at the end, lost in memory, but she was just rounding the corner. He certainly hadn’t expected to see her in here, frankly nobody really came here other than Henri which is why he sometimes worked over here. It was quiet. Usually.
She turned into one of the stacks, so she hadn’t seen him or heard him rustling the blueprints he’d found, old ones. He could hear her muttering. It was almost time for him to go get Amelia and take the boat into the city. They had reservations at Island Prime. He didn’t really know what to do, she and Olivia were both going a bit stir crazy, isolated for the most part on this base. He left the papers sitting there, and then got up and walked over.
He really didn’t sneak up on her, its just that he no longer knew how to move in an unquiet matter…..so when he said, “Hey, kiddo,”……she jerked, smacking her head into the bookcase she’d been leaning against, before letting out a blue streak, that ended with something sounding like “fucking bouncin’ kangaroo balls.”
“God fucking damn it, Dad!” she yelled, wiping at her eyes quickly hoping he didn’t notice and then rubbing her head as a distraction. “That fuckin’ hurt.”
He frowned, “Sorry, Livy, I didn’t mean ta…surprise you. You ok? Let me see.”
“No, its fine….I took way worse today with Uncle Brant.”
“I saw. Ya’ looked tired, and he really doesn’t like those who show up late ta trainin’ sessions because they slept through their alarm.”
“Well, if ya two hadn’t kept me up so late fuckin’ like bunnies……wait, ya saw? Ya knew I was late and you didn’t wake me up? Thanks a fuckin’ lot Dad….”
“Well, in no particular order, ya’ left the room last night after your Mom yelled at ya’. And didn’t come back until about five in the morning. If you’re goin’ to sleep on the beach, then do it, but don’t expect people to come lookin’ for ya’. Since ya’ obviously slept through the alarm at 8:00 AM, I’m guessin’ the beach wasn’t very restful. As far as wakin’ ya up……I’m not going to fuckin’ coddle ya. Ya’ want to train with your uncle, ya’ want to race bikes with your other uncle, ya’ eventually want to go out and track down criminals, ya’ get your own ass out of bed. Ya’ can’t do that, ya’ don’t deserve the other shit.”
She stood there staring at him angrily, and was about to spout off again when he held his finger up, and said, “Shhh. I’m not done. If ya want me to coddle you, I’m more than happy ta’ do it. Nothin’ would make me happier. We can go to the movies every day, ya’ can race, whatever, go shopping, find a regular school. No way in hell though will ya’ go anywhere near a criminal, at least on purpose, for years if that’s the way ya’ wanna play it. In fact, I’d be happier if ya’ quit.”
He bulled on, ignoring his desire to just take her in his arms and hug the pain and anger 
away, “Now, as to your trainin’ session with Brant, yes, I saw. I also heard what he suggested. Of course I saw. I don’t know what other parents do. I watch almost every day, because I love ya’ and….don’t want to miss seeing ya’ do what ya’ enjoy.” Sadness enters his voice, “I’ve missed too much already.”
“I didn’t see ya. I didn’t think ya’ wanted me to do…..any of this.”
“Well, hardly anybody can see me if I don’t want them to…..and I don’t really, not yet. But…..if you’re goin’ ta…then I’m goin’ to watch. After you learn the basics from Uncle Brant….well, then maybe we can talk about other things.”
“I guess.”
“Look, Livy. I know this is all new for ya’, for your Mum, for me. You’re tired and frustrated right now. And I promised your Mum I’d take her somewhere nice tonight so she could get dressed up and get out of this place. How about we go back to the big arcade place tomorrow night? Just to get out of here for a few hours, do some regular stuff, maybe go to the midnight movie. I happened to look yesterday, they are doin’ a double feature of those Jack Reacher movies. So you get some sleep tonight…..and we’ll talk first thing in the mornin’. Remember, tomorrow we are supposed to practice your first deep dive. Can’t do that if you’re tired. Deep divin’ messes with your perception as it is.”
When she nodded and said, “Ok,’ he turned to go.
Before he got two steps, “Dad…..Why does she always want to get so dressed up? Pretend to be some high class, fancy pants….”
He paused, and then turned around to face her, “Your Mum?” and at her nod, he stood still for a minute considering.
He walked back and then picked her up, and she can feel the strength of his hands as he sat her on the top of the half shelf like she’s just a little kid and the anger stirs but then he opens his mouth.
“Look, Livy. There’s a big gap of years and I can’t answer a lot of questions about your Mum, or you, or frankly even your gran’. Maybe we can talk about that all together some day, maybe we should. I don’t know the details and I get…..angry….because I don’t.”
She starts to say something, but he places his finger on her lips again, very softly, “No, I know, there’s a lot we haven’t talked about. There are just things that parents don’t talk 
about with their kids, or even Mums and Dads with each other, or brothers with sisters, and so on.”
“What I do know is this. She likes it. She’s earned it. She deserves ta do what she wants, what she likes. If this makes her happy, then I’ll do it every night. Just like, because I love ya, and you want to train to be a superhero fightin’ crime, I asked your uncle Brant to start trainin’ ya.”
“But its….just so…..girly……so……I don’t get how she can be my Mum……”
“Now you’re bein’ silly. I know you’ve seen her on the range with us when we shoot once a week,” and his daughter brightens at the mention of shooting, “so you have to know she’s not completely helpless.”
He pauses, “I know we talked a little about this when you first got here, that your Mum and I met when we were both in the army.”
At her nod, he says, “I know she never told ya’ much about it, right?” Again, the new teenager nods.
Brett pauses, thinking, “So, let’s do a little exercise in observation, and maybe research. Before….before you got here, when you went swimmin’ or to the beach, or whatever, did your Mum ever wear bikinis? Think carefully.”
“Not that I can think of, I mean, she wore swimsuits but usually if we went snorkelin’ it was a one piece wetsuit thing, and well, I guess, mainly a one piece. Why?”
“Well, surely you have seen her with her shirt off, or just getting out of a bath, or when she rubs lotion on like she does several times a day. After only a few weeks, I know it’s damn near a solemn ritual.
“Yea, so…..”
“Livy, sometimes we get preconceptions about people because we live with them, stay with them, we’ve known them our whole lives, so we don’t really think about it. Like sometimes it’s hard for me to accept that Bryce and Brant are in their twenties, and that you’re thirteen and here with me right now.” And if there’s s slight shimmer to his eyes, it’s just a trick of the lighting.
“Dad……come on, what the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m gettin’ there,” and he slowly unbuttons his shirt cuff, and rolls it up. “I want you to look at somethin’.”
“Ok, what?”
“The tattoo, Livy, you see it?
“Of course I do, its takes up most of your damn forearm. Winged dagger with Who Dares Wins on it.”
“Do you know what it means?”
“No, some sort of army tattoo?”
He chuckles sadly, “Yep, some sort of army tattoo. One I was once pretty proud of. Now, does your Mom have any tattoos?”
“Huh, yea, I think so…..I mean I know she does, but, its on the inside of her thigh.”
“Are you willin’ to accept that I know what the inside of her thigh looks like?”
“Gross, come on Dad.”
“Livy, you asked.”
“Yes, gawd, yes, ok, you probably do.”
“So, its smaller in size, but the tattoo is the same.”
“So, probably lots of army people have it then right, because she said she was just a medic or somethin’. I know that much.”
“Livy…..you want to get better at knowin’ people? Figurin’ out criminals? Knowin’ who the enemy is. Analyzin’ things?
“I guess…..”
“You guess?”
“I want to fight criminals, take them down, save the innocent, the ones who can’t defend themselves. Is that what you’re sayin’? That I want to save people like Mum?”
“No. I mean maybe. Maybe you see her as defenseless and you want to save people who you think are defenseless. That’s an interestin’, but different question. What I’m askin’ is how do you know who the criminals are, how do you know who’s really defenseless? Or maybe who’s the biggest threat?”
“Duh, that’s easy. The one with the biggest gun or the biggest knife….” And he is shaking his head.
“No, kiddo, its not always the one with the biggest weapon in their hands. I tell you what. Your Mum is probably startin’ to get ready. You know as well as I do that she’s going to take a long shower, then put lotion on, then do her hair, and get dressed in somethin’ nice.”
Livy’s face flashes red in remembered embarrassment and amusement, “What Livy?”
“Nothin’, Dad, just….nothin’.”
“Alright, what I want you to do, is I want you to run over there, and I want you to help her. Not be obnoxious or obvious, but help her choose clothes, whatever, talk about your day while she’s gettin’ ready. And this is a test, so you can’t ask her anythin’ about what we’ve talked about. But while your sittin’ their chattin’, I want you to figure out if your Mom has any scars. Learn to study people by studying the people around you.”
“Mum? Your kiddin’ right,” and she’s chuckling right now. “Probably from trippin’ down the stairs or somethin’ back home…..”
She doesn’t notice the quick scowl that flashes across her father’s face at the “back home.”
“Could be. Could be. That’s not the point.”
“Ok, ok, observe Mum and count scars.”
She starts to jump off the shelf, but he grabs her and hugs her fiercely. Shocked, she hugs back, “Come on, Dad, jeez.”
“Sorry, one last thing for ya’ to do tonight while we’re gone.”
“Whatever….”
“You take one of those fancy laptops or your phone and you research this tattoo, the saying on it, what it means. Then we’ll talk in the mornin’ after your deep dive to see what you found out. And whether that means your Mum is some sort of helpless sea flower from down under.”
Last Dreams 