By Guilt or Annoyance

"Where is that little shit."

If there was one phase in life Russell wasn't expecting, it was the "child rearing" one. He had given up on that thought a while ago, and had actually settled into the give-up pretty well before his current headache popped into his life. It was not a fun way to be inducted into parenthood, and he wasn't sure if it was genuine warmth or annoying guilt that made him take her in.

Russell's back ached as he walked around the living room. He had been rough housing with the kid the previous night - a phrase he though he'd never say, let alone participate in - and was unfortunately reminded of why middle-aged parents of young children had such a stigma against them. He simply couldn't keep up with the bundle of energy that zoomed around the apartment, climbing on everything, crashing into anything. Right when he would think they were taking a break, she'd leap off the floor like a whale crashing above the waves and insist on playing another round of 'I'll jump off the couch and land on your stomach'.

Stupid kid. She was going to be the death of him, he could sense it.

"Tati!" he called out, his husked voice a grate against the silence. "I know yer here. Come on - it's lunch time." That last part was just a tiny bit false, but hey, it was lunch time when he said it was lunch time. 11:30 was good enough.

There came a slight noise from the bathroom, to which he figured she was just hiding in there and would come out when the smell of food attracted her to do so. He then looked at the papers in his hand and figured, eh, stash them away for now. There was no need for them to be out in the open, especially if she could find them.

The kid had the most obnoxious habit of asking about everything she possibly could. Was that, like, a kid...thing...? Did children always ask lots of questions about the every day aspects of life? The Finch kid didn't. Trevor was good and quiet; mindful of his manners. Polite, even. Respectful of adults and their needs for personal space, things like that.

Russell folded the papers up, shoving them under a couch cushion, and turned around to face the kitchenette of his apartment. It had seen much more activity since the kid showed up, since apparently a diet of coffee and cigarettes wasn't good for kids. Bah. They had served him just fine before turning betrayer and gunking up his lungs.

Lighting a cigarette, Russell looked over the contents of his shelves, thinking somewhere in the back of his mind that perhaps he should make something a bit...nicer. Something the little shit would like, something she not only liked eating but enjoyed eating. There was pie, peanut butter pie to be precise, but that was not going to happen within the next chunk of minutes. Maybe later, though.

He settled on buttered noodles. Easy enough. In fact, throw some cheese on and it was mac and cheese with lots of butter, and who could argue with that? So with lunch figured out, Russell set a pot of water to boil on the stove top before deciding to try and find the kid, over-turning his previous rule to wait, because waiting was not the most comfortable thing to do with this child.

"Taaaatiiiii," he called again, this time taking on the tone of hide-and-seek. "Where arrrrrre youuuuu..."

Why did anyone ever think that would work? People ran away from inquires about where they were. She wasn't going to come running out because he wanted her to, no; she was going to hide more, duh. But there was another noise from the bathroom, a generic thump, and that was it - she was there. Russell crept down the hall, confirming his already decided mind by seeing light poking out from beneath the door.

He summoned a modicum of respect and knocked on the door, but was cut-off by said door being swung open and him having a child shoving into his legs to push him back. Tati's hand was on the doorknob, and she was very insistent on dragging the door shut the more she drilled her head into his gut.

So he gave up on resisting, releasing a sigh while taking a step back. The door closed with a loud crack and vibration to the surrounding walls, causing Russell to give an automatic slap to the top of the child's head. "You break it, you buy it," he said, much like he would to people in his pawn shop downstairs. She released a single whimper but then looked up at him and grinned widely.

"Is it lunch time?!"

"Um...yeah. Yup. Sure is."

"What are we having?" Tati asked, flying off his torso and spinning a circle to face him again. "Is it good? Something good?"

"You think everything's good."

"Then it's good!"

Russell frowned as she spun herself in more circles, her arms wide out, her feet keeping up the rhythm before knocking into the couch. He glanced at the bathroom door, but decided on doing nothing because that would require effort. Dealing with the walking disaster was  preferable to dealing with the imminent one. Waiting wasn't one of his strengths, but taking care of stuff later was.

Tati flung herself over the back of the couch, Russell turning around in time to see her feet wiggling in the air. He raised an eyebrow, taking in a drag of his cigarette, and glanced at the door again. The hell was with that kid? Did she just enjoy being a whirlwind wrapped in the package of a 10-year-old? ...She was ten, right? Yeah. Looked like one, at least.

He heard a crunch - not a breaking-kind, but the crinkling-kind, and that brought his attention back to the kid. Tati had somersaulted off the couch and was holding some slightly wrinkled, folded-up paper in her hand.

The little shit.

"What's this?" she asked, holding up the wad. Russell took a few paces forward, letting her wait in a state of suspension - she was really good at holding poses - while he ground out his cigarette in an ash tray. He leaned over the back of the couch, slouching his arms onto the cushions, and threaded his fingers together.

"Important."

"Im...portant...?" Tati lowered her arm, studying the (still folded-up) papers. "How?"

"Because they are."

A silence invaded, and silence was strange when she was around. It was just the way her eyes were going that displayed perfectly the gears whirring around in her head. She was just about to unfold the sheets when a rattling came from the kitchen, completely breaking her attention.

"Are you boiling water?" The kid had quickly learned what sounds corresponded to which things - food-relations being her favorite.

"Oh - yeah." That lunch-thing was going on, wasn't it?

Tati scrambled up and flew over to the stove, leaving the papers behind. Russell couldn't even summon the strength to sigh, just close his eyes and shake his head. Hopefully he had made the right decision. Just...hopefully.