They Call Me the Coroner | Top Gun: Maverick

Taco Salad Breakfast

I knock on the door a few times before someone finally looks out the livingroom window to see who's outside.

She opens the door, baby in arm. Her eyes swollen from tears. Her face flashes from anger to relief to worry, then back to anger.

"Uh...hi?" I wince at her scowl.

"You better explain yourself, Tesha Valerie Dupont." She pulls me inside the house.

*****

"You need Jesus." She blurts matter of fact.

I blink at her and chuckle sadly, Fallon laying her head on my shoulder as I hold her. "There's truth to that. But I'm not so sure He would take me under His wing."

I've told her everything. Down to the last thing I said. I even spilled the secret about Marty and my life as a secret assassin for the government.

The thing about secrets: they are never told only once, and I expect to tell this one many more times.

"Oh honey." She takes my empty bowl of what used to be chicken alfredo leftovers from a popular Italian restaurant. "Even if He doesn't approve of your choices, those choices won't stop Him from loving you. You need only come to Him and He can give you the peace you're begging for."

I nod. "Yeah, but will He is the question. I don't deserve it."

"He might surprise you. He works in mysterious ways."

I sigh. "I'm sorry I worried you so much, Kim."

"No more beach house." She eyes me with raised brows and points to the floor. "You are staying here every night and you are getting a new phone and you will answer me when I call."

"Only if you promise not to spam me." I purse my lips. "I can't stand that about you."

"Fine." She holds up her hand and it's quiet for a few seconds as she takes my bowl to the sink. Before she washes it, she draws her lips in a line. "Are you okay, Tesha? After all this...I can see why you wouldn't be."

"I'm fighting, Kim. You always get a few bruises or a busted lip. You always lose a little blood. But you get back up because it's who you are. You fight because people depend on you."

"Speaking of losing blood." She finishes the bowl and comes back, inspecting my bandages and cuts. "This Jasper guy did an okay job, but you probably need to see a doctor."

"No doctors. They'll take me off the mission and I'm not going to leave my team hanging like that."

The fact that she doesn't see me as a freak confuses me. How can she be so calm? She just found out that her sister kills people for a living. That her sister is practically nuts and can't keep herself together for more than five minutes.

"Kim..." I feel a tear sliding down my cheek and I wipe it away. My voice shakes with every syllable. "Look you don't have to be so nice...or whatever. You know you can yell at me or hate me for all the things I've done. I would understand." I pet the baby's head to keep from looking at her in the eyes.

Kim hovers over me and sighs. "Gosh, Tesha..."

When I look at her, she's smiling sadly. She caresses my cheek with a tear in her eye.

"Don't you think you do enough of that to yourself?"

I blink more tears falling down my face.

"Maybe it's time you let someone love you for who you are and not question it." She says taking my hand and holding it tightly in hers. It's so warm. "Maybe it's time for you to realize that you are human and you are going to make bad choices, but you can repent and change. Don't fight people's true love for you, Tesha. Don't fight God's love for you. You're making yourself miserable."