Spy Out Of Water

Chapter 10

"What are you doing with that?" I looked down at the robotic baby that Toby had in his arms. 

"Him, Fin. Him. We're supposed to be taking care of Bond. Remember?" He flashed me a grin. I ignored the flopping in my stomach. 

"Right. So you're just gonna carry him around all day?" I asked. Jax was now making his way up the steps to the house. 

"Either that or you do it," he shrugged. 

"You know what, I'll take him tonight," I told him. "I just don't understand the point of this."

"It's to teach kids the responsibility of parenting. Or to scare them into abstinence," Norman came up behind me. "And it's like a third of your grade. Think about what Mr. Howley will say if you failed Home Ec."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, we're out here risking out lives and he's probably more worries about my grades dropping. It's not like we haven't all completed the high school curriculum."

"All right Einstein, enough chitchat. We need to get everyone wired," Norman ushered Toby and Jax in, shutting the door. 

...

Toby and I sat on the sofa downstairs while Jax and Norman were busy setting up the comm units, trying to calm down a screaming Bond. 

"Can you get him to stop?" I nearly had tears in my eyes and I pressed my hands against my ears.  "I'd rather be tortured by the Russians."

"Don't tell them that. They'll start breading babies for that sole purpose," Toby cringed, rocking him back and forth, although that proved to be a futile effort. 

"Alright, that's it," I reached for my taser, strapped to my leg. Toby's eyes bugged out as he swiped it from my hand. 

"You can't tase a baby, princess!" He looked like he didn't know whether to laugh or be angry. 

"It's a robot!" He raised a brow. I threw my hands up in frustration. "Give him to me," I held my hands out. 

Toby turned his body, shielding me from Bond. 

"I'm not gonna tase the baby," I narrowed me eyes at him. 

Slowly, Toby placed Bond in my arms. I had started to grow used to the high pitched screeching sound and gently bounced him in my arms. 

"Did you feed him yet?" I turned to Toby.

His eyes widened as he gave me an apologetic look. "No..." He darted to his backpack where he kept the supplies, coming back with a bottle. 

Without a word, I grabbed it from him and brought it to Bond's mouth. Luckily, he immediately stopped crying and made these weird sucking sounds that sounded more like squeaks. 

Toby and I both let out a relieved breath as we slumped back against the sofa. 

As soon as Bond was done with the bottle, I placed it on the table in front of us and started to burp him. 

I looked over at Toby who was staring at me with some expression I couldn't quite decipher. His cheeks turned pink when he realized I had caught him. 

He cleared his throat. "You're good at that."

"Thanks," Bond had finished burping and had now fallen asleep. "Uncle Gray used to being me dolls to play with all the time when I was younger. Tried to teach me how to take care of them," I smiled at the memory. "I was more interested in throwing them onto the roof and them climbing up to 'rescue' them."

Toby chuckled. "I wish I could have seen that. You mention Mr. Howley a lot. What about your parents?" 

I stiffened. I had never intended to share this much with him. After all, the more people know about a spy, the more ammunition they have to hurt you. But as I looked into his sparkling blue eyes, I couldn't find it in myself to care.