Of Headaches and Heartaches

Chapter Three: Interrogation

Vanessa hurriedly buttoned up her shirt. The employee showers are usually empty, given that the basement seemed to creep everyone else out, but she's out of options. She threw the dirty clothes into her locker to be dealt with at a later date.

Her pager went off again. This time, without any excuse not to, she decided to read the message.

"Ness, where are you? Staff meeting starts in 5!"

Shit!

Vanessa groaned, clipping the pager to her pants. How had she forgotten about the stupid fucking meeting? It'd only been reiterated time and time again for the last month.

Idiot!

She booked it out of the locker room, into a winding hallway, around the corner, into an elevator, and up two flights of stairs. All to burst through the conference room door and see no one else in the room. Well, no one else besides Luis, who was sitting at the long conference table, facing the door.

"Uh...where's everyone else?"

"Ness, and I'm sorry if this is blunt, but did you kidnap a child today?" Luis looked at her over the computer, eyes pleading with her to tell the truth.

Vanessa was taken back by his forwardness. She faltered, mouth opening and closing.

"No!" She retorted.

"No? Then what's this?" He asked, turning his computer around. A grainy video, oddly reminiscent of the Pizzaplex's security cameras.

The video slowly focused, and it showed her, holding a crying Gregory, and looking around suspiciously before veering off down an alleyway. It finished, Luis moving his computer out of the way. He folded his hands on the table, mouth forming a thin line.

"Then, what the hell was that?"

"It's not what it looks like." She waved her hands around frantically. "I mean, it's exactly what it looks like but-"

"Where's the kid? Did you hurt them?" Luis asked, tone sharp. He almost never sounded this angry. The last time had been...

He continued on, starting to visibly shake with anger and disgust. "Am I even talking to YOU right now?"

Luis rose from the chair, snapping Vanessa out of her trance-like state.

"I'm going to the-"

"Wait!" She waved her arms around, again, like it made her more believable the first time. "Wait," she repeated, trying to gather more time to find a reasonable explanation. "It isn't like...that..."

"It isn't?"

"No, it isn't. If it was, I probably wouldn't even be talking to you right now," Vanessa answered, quietly.

"Alright, what's going on then?"

"I found him lying outside in an alley, he didn't look so good, so I figured I'd bring him inside to clean him up and stuff," Vanessa said.

Luis looked her over. His dark brown eyes, which have never looked at her with anything but a warm familiarity, looked so disappointed. So....betrayed.

But he must find something on Vanessa's face, because his pinched expression relaxed.

"Okay, so this is not like last time. You're you."

Vanessa sighed.

"But," Luis continued, "I still want to go and see the kid, can you show me them?" he asked.

"Oh sure! "I can show you the kid. He got sick down my back, so I left him in some storage room." Vanessa responded.

"In some storage room?" Luis asked, incredulously.

"Yes," she said, but it quickly occurred to her how that might sound, so she quickly added, "on a cot. The room had cots and blankets, so I left him on a cot. It looked really comfortable too-"

"Ness?" And there it was, that soft, doe-eyed look that she'd grown accustomed to.

"Yeah?"

"You're rambling again, which I happen to find to be one of your best qualities, but right now we need to get to the daycare center."

"Daycare center?" She asked, a little lost.

He rounded the table, laptop close to his chest. "The place you described sounds like the little room behind the Daycare Attendant's podium."

Luis waited for her in the doorway, holding the door. "After you," he says, any previous grievances gone with the assurance that she hadn't done anything unspeakable. "And, maybe on the way, you can explain yourself."

-x-x-x-x-

"New friend," Sun crooned, shifting on his knees an inch closer to the sobbing boy. "How can I help you? Would you like a few minutes alone? A story? A lullaby?" He wouldn't like it, but-if it calmed the little one, even a tiny bit-Sun would endure sleeping. Moon had always been better at the quiet sort of activities that calm children down.

"Mama!" The boy cried out, moving off the cot. The blanket fell, revealing the most dirty, thread-baren clothes Sun had ever seen. "Momma... hic.... momma.... hic..... "

Sun was caught between two conflicting thoughts:

Continue trying to settle and comfort his new friend, who surely needed it.

Or

Going against their programming, and tracking down whatever neglectful, irresponsible parent left his new friend in such horrid condition.

The boy had backed himself into a corner, settling between a laundry basket and an old milk crate. He was trembling, shaking like a leaf. His knees were drawn to his chest, and he was actively avoiding direct eye contact with Sun.

Maybe they could go against their programming later...right now their friend needed them.

"I'm sorry," Sun started, sitting down a fair distance away from the boy. But he made absolutely sure he was still within sight distance, so the boy knew Sun hadn't completely left him alone.

No one should have to endure the deafening silence that loneliness brings.

"I startled you. I didn't mean to, but I understand I can be..." he trailed off, trying to think of a word that a young child might resonate with, "... a lot. "

A series of giggles filled the room, and it took Sun a solid minute to process that it was coming from the boy. The laughter was light, joyous, and carefree like all children should be. Not like this child, who evidently hasn't even been granted the bare necessities like clean clothes.

The boy looked up from his knees, meeting Sun's eyes with a timid smile. "A lot, a lot," he repeated with emphasis, like it's the funniest thing he's ever heard.

"Yeah, a lot. My name's Sundrop, but a lot of my friends like to just call me Sun. I also have a...uh...brother of sorts. His name is Moon."

The boy nodded; brows furrowed as if committing their names to memory. "Gregory," he told Sun, pointing to his chest.

"Gregory," Sun said, overjoyed that his new friend finally had a name. "Well, Gregory," he said after a minute of peaceful silence, "Do you like arts and crafts?"