Grin and bear it

This time when the door opened, the flash of yellow attached herself to Chance.

"Uncle Addy!" She squealed as she jumped up into his arms.

As he scooped her up, she wrapped her little arms around his neck and hugged him tight.

"Hello Genevieve." He returned her hug and patted her on the back softly. All the anxiety and stress he had been feeling previously flew away in an instant.

"Thank you so much for my new dress! I really, really, really like it!" She started squirming to be put down.

Once her feet touched the floor, she twirled around the room to show off her dress.

"Aunt Fay! Aunt Fay! Isn't it pretty?" Genevieve looked up at Fait with her eyes so bright that Fait thought she might go blind.

Fait had to blink a few times to recover.

'This kid is going to grow up to look just like her mother.' Fait inwardly mourned for the poor unfortunate fools that would try to get Genevieve's attention in the future. There was no way anyone was going to get past Eve and Roy.

"Yes, it is. You look very cute." She finally managed to answer.

"Not cute, Aunt Fay! Pretty!" The little girl pouted.

"What's wrong with being cute?" Chance couldn't help but ask.

"Babies are cute! I'm a girl so I should be pretty."

"But aren't you your papa's baby?" Fait still couldn't understand and looked over at Roy.

The big man looked incredibly depressed and could only shake his head.

"She won't let me call her that anymore." He let out a long sigh as if to say 'Oh, the struggles of parenthood.'

"No. I'm gonna be a six year old soon so I can't be a baby too."

"I see..." Fait was unconvinced.

"So?" Genevieve was very persistent.

"Yes, you and your new dress are very pretty."

Genevieve smiled and ran over to her distressed father.

"Okay Papa, let's go! You promised we could pick up Mama next!"

"Alright, say goodbye properly and we'll head out."

The father and daughter pair said their goodbyes and left.

Fait waited until they were gone and then she brought up Chance's injury again.

"What. did. you. do?"

He rolled his eyes and sat back down in his chair.

"You're sure you can't just let this go? I just pulled a muscle okay? It isn't even from anything exciting. I didn't even leave the house." He grumbled his way through the short explanation and finished with a pout.

Fait was amused by his attitude. She felt it was kind of cute. He looked like a dejected schoolboy that was sulking after getting reprimanded by a teacher for some minor infraction.

It was a different kind of sulking then when she had first found him in his old office. This was way more lighthearted and earnest then before.

"And you are really telling the whole truth?" She decided to poke at him just a bit more.

He sighed and explained exactly what he had done and exactly which muscle it was and exactly what Koty had done to help him treat it.

"I guess I'll believe you this time. All joking aside, as your assistant I need to know these things so I can make adjustments to your schedule as needed."

"But, I am just sitting behind a desk today."

"Today, yes, that is true. But in the future you'll be attending meetings and events and the like at a variety of locations. What would you have done if you were scheduled for a walking tour of one of the other LCM companies today?" She place her hands on her hips and stared at him with her default austere and detached expression.

"Grin and bear it." He answered flatly, trying and failing to match her level of aloofness.

His response did manage to crack her mask. If only for an instant, her lower lip twitched ever so slightly.

"No! You tell me so I can reschedule or make adjustments to make everything work out. This is my job. Please let me do it."

"Yes, ma'am."

She shot him a glare so he quickly corrected himself.

"Yes, Fait."

"Good."

"By the way, did Lola put you in touch with Charlie?" Chance quickly moved the conversation to something else.

"Miss Mason? Yes, I spoke to her a few minutes ago. She called while you were with Roy."

"So, is everything set?"

"A separate untraceable bank account has been set up with the funds needed to purchase the Camaro. Miss Mason has already been given all the information and Lola is going to personally send her and Miss Flynn to Stella's Auto Auction in the evening. Mr. Flynn will also accompany them as a precaution."

"Is everything set up so I can monitor the auction remotely?"

She nodded in affirmation. "We will head to your apartment after work to set up the live stream and we'll call Miss Mason when they start to auction your car."

Somehow, it didn't feel real. In the next day and a half, he would finally have his car back, kind of. It was still going to Charlie's instead of straight to him but at least he would own it again and he didn't have to worry about what might happen to it.