Say Cheese

Claire had never been so uncomfortable in her life. This whole thing felt like some bizarre, terrifying dream. Work was so normal that it was jarring once she drove herself there and Six made sure the coast was clear until she clocked in.

"I'll be around so no one tries anything funny. I don't think they will but it's better to be safe than sorry," he said seriously.

"You'll get kicked out for loitering!" she protested. "There's no reason to do that. Really."

The tiniest flicker of a smile appeared on his face, though it was really more of a smirk. "They won't even know I'm there."

Claire was forced to take him at his word because he vanished before she could continue trying to talk him out of it. Six was a very stressful person to deal with. She never knew what he was going to say or do and he frequently disregarded whatever she said.

At the same time, he occasionally followed orders like some sort of soldier or hung on her every word if she was talking about something completely average like a TV show. He said he had been raised inside what he called the Agency…what all had that entailed aside from learning to kill?

Six seemed to know he was a hitman by trade though he referred to himself and others like him as agents. She wasn't sure how he had been exposed to the word. He seemed pretty out of the loop for the most part.

Claire did her best to put him out of mind while she was at work. The normalcy was jarring after the past day and a half of chaos.

Nevertheless, she got on with her day like nothing had happened. Pushing herself forward was the only way she could handle this. It was what got her through losing her mom so that method couldn't fail her again.

She was self-aware enough to realize that being in denial about what happened and not processing her feelings wasn't healthy but there was nothing else she could do right now. She couldn't afford to break down until she was actually safe.

Six had already told her not to panic more than once. He didn't seem to like it when she panicked and the last thing she wanted to do was antagonize someone who could so easily turn on her.

He was the only thing keeping her alive right now. She had to keep him happy at all costs.

After work, Six was waiting for her at the employee exit and informed Claire matter-of-factly that he had inspected her car for any signs of tampering and found none. Perhaps he intended for that to be comforting but it was not.

That only gave her one more thing to worry about. Nothing in her life was safe anymore. Her home, her job, her car…

Tears filled Claire's eyes that she impatiently brushed away. She couldn't allow herself to get upset now. This was fine. She was fine, she was fine, she was fine. Six was doing everything he could to ensure her safety even if he was overly blunt about it.

"Let's go," she said quietly. If she tried mustering any volume at all she would break down into sobs.

They headed back to the hotel to get Daisy and their things to move to the Air BnB. Six surveyed the property and inside of the house before declaring it safe and allowing her to set the cat carrier down.

It was a pretty nice place with soothing white and blue decorations accented with a nautical theme. There was a decent-sized smart TV in the living room too where Claire could sign into her own streaming services.

Hiding out here for a while wouldn't be so bad but they would need groceries first. They hadn't been able to go on the way because of Daisy. Now that she was here and curiously examining the place they were able to head back out.

Claire didn't buy much since they wouldn't be here for long. A box of cereal, some snacks, and freezer meals would be sufficient for now. She got a tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream too for the sake of her sanity.

When they got back to the place they rented, she was surprised that Six pulled out a smartphone. She hadn't seen him with one before.

"When did you get that?"

"While you were at work. There was a cell phone store near the pharmacy and I needed one," he said simply. "They set it up for me but I still don't know how to work this thing. It isn't like I have any contacts either."

There really wasn't a single person in this world whose phone number he knew? That was pretty sad. Claire felt faint stirrings of sympathy for him.

"Here, we should exchange numbers so we can get in contact if we're separated." She held out her hand for his phone and programmed her number in, taking a quick selfie to use as a contact photo.

She found his number in the phone's settings and inputted it in her phone before holding it up to take a picture for his contact. "Say cheese!"

Six followed her directions emotionlessly. "Cheese."

The picture turned out about as well as she would have expected. Even saying the 'ee' sound that was notorious for making people look like they were smiling hadn't worked properly on him.

"I took a picture so it will pop up on the screen when you call me," Claire explained since he probably wasn't aware of the concept of contact photos. "I did the same thing on your phone. Watch."

She test called him and his phone buzzed as her picture and name filled the screen. Six eyed it in a vaguely curious way but said nothing.

She sighed inwardly. This guy really didn't talk much, did he? She was going to go nuts being stuck in a space with him without being able to go outside indefinitely unless he was able to hold an actual conversation.