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five years old.
"That says Negotiator," he explained which caused a perplexed look on his child's face. When she repeated it, butchering it's pronounciation like only a five year old could, he nodded. "What is that, Daddy?" She asked as she squirmed in his lap. "That means if there is someone out there who is about to do something dangerous, I'm the one they send in to try to stop him with words. We always try to use our words before we ever use any of our other tools." He explained pointing to his belt of said tools. seventeen years old.
it felt like time was ticking by at glacial pace as button sat in ap bio. it was her favorite class, right before lunch. so normally it was her favorite time of the school day but today without explanation she couldn't concentrate when the screech of the overhead speaker hit her ears. "button cormican and brennan bell, please report to the office immediately." it was the last thing she expected to hear and immediately her blood seemed to have turned to ice in her veins. for her or her brother to be called singularly was rare, but for them both to be? she didn't bother with her books as she bolted out the door with merely a glance at her teacher.she met her brother in the hallway and the look on his face said he was equally perplexed by the situation they found themselves in. he was a freshman, she a senior. they didn't exchange words, they didn't need to as they made the final steps to round the corner for the office. the sight that met her stopped her heart. the first glance was a uniformed officer. for a second she'd let herself hope the back was that of her father but it was quickly replaced by the reality it wasn't. it was officer gulliver, her father's partner. her father was no where to be found. the office immediately went silent the second the pair walked up. instinctively, she felt her brothers hand slide into her own. it was the only thing at all she registered in those moments. "is he alive?" were the first words she managed to choke out. "he's alive," gulliver was the one to alert them, as everyone else stayed quiet. "he's been shot though, he's in the hospital. surgery. it was a stand off. your father, he's stupidly foolish sometimes. beth is with him. i said i'd come get you two. it was the least i could do." the ride there was a blur that button didn't remember at all the second she burst through the hospital doors and straight into her aunt's arms. in moments she felt brennan's arms wrap around her. the three of them stood like that for a while. "he's okay. he's okay," was all her aunt kept repeating. twenty-four years old.
it didn't get any easier. you'd think it would. her father had been a cop her whole life. but it didn't. she still read the news. riots in portland were becoming more and more prevalent. her father always on the front lines. as the years progressed it was getting more and more difficult to be a cop with rising hostilities. she knew it, he knew it too. but it was his job, and he loved it. and she'd always tried to support it. she held a sense of pride for what her father did, but it definitely came with it's own batch of fears.today, there was another right wing riot. police on alert, and button was thousands of miles away. no way to contact her father while he was on duty. all she could do was ride it out until she got more news or a message from her father. she hated riding things out. my dad’s in a riot right now. like an actual police task force riot. and i’m scared. she shot the texts off at rapid speed. it didn't take long to get a text back. oh no. can i do anything?. distract me? demand answers from the ppb?. want to go for a drive? head to the beach? yes. so that's what they'd done. he'd picked her up and driven her to the beach. hours passed there with her laying in his lap. words weren't really spoken, but they didn't need to be. there was a comfort in his steady presence. |