The Phantom's Princess.

Ch. 5

The after-dinner talk was just as uneventful as Vincent had suggested, and despite her promise not to ever talk about anything that was discussed between the men, she didn't even understand half of their conversation.

They used a lot of, what she gathered were, code names for people and places, even dates and times didn't seem to match up.

Nonetheless, Alexis listened quietly, noting everything she heard. She hadn't kept herself hidden on the streets for almost a year by not being observant.

She already knew Jeremy's nickname was 'Doc', and after hearing it paired with 'No Name' whom she assumed was Mamax, due to Geoffrey's teasing that his name wasn't a name she realised Vincent was giving out duties to fulfil the next day.

As it happened Doc and No Name were to visit the babysitters as there was an issue with a shortage of loaves.

How the babysitters had run out of bread and why Jeremy and Mamax were supposed to sort it out for them, Alexis couldn't fathom. Also, exactly who were the babysitters watching?

"Will I get to meet the babysitters?" Alexis asked, wondering if she would have a chance to meet the other children of the gang.

Vincent laughed lightly. "No, princess," he said. "These are special babysitters, but let's leave all that unsaid, right?"

Right, so the babysitters probably didn't watch children either, she surmised, giving herself a figurative pat on the shoulder.

So, the conversation continued for a while until the men eventually parted into smaller groups to settle down to talk.

Vincent remained in his seat on the sofa beside Alexis and leaned back into the arm, resting his head against the headrest. He pulled a few of his jacket buttons loose and, on doing so, revealed the matted metallic back of something on the inside of his jacket.

Is that what I think it is? she wondered as she tilted her head to catch a better glimpse of it.

Entranced by the object she leaned in closer, her hand itching with the need to reach in and see what it was, though it was fairly obvious - what else would someone have inside their jacket in a chest holster?

The loud clearing of someone's throat broke her concentration and she looked up to see Thomas watching her with slightly narrowed eyes.

Vincent then lifted his head and looked back directly at Alexis. "Everything okay?"

"Yes," Alexis said, glancing quickly at Thomas who looked as though he wanted to reprimand her in some way.

Why is he always scowling at me like that? she wondered, having barely seen Thomas smile the whole time she had been amongst them. As far as she believed, Thomas, at least, had a problem with her, but Vincent had already promised her safety so surely that meant from Thomas too.

"I was wondering though," she started, doing her best to choose her words carefully. "What that is for?" she said pointing at the object in his jacket.

"Oh, this little thing," he said pulling it from his holster. "Protection, of course."

Alexis stared wide-eyed at the gun as he held it out in his hand for her to see, and wondered, should a gun look so beautiful?

If someone was looking for fancy, they might seek out some jewels, if someone was looking for fun, they might seek out a toy. At that moment, in Alexis' opinion, that matted black gun with golden trim looked much better suited for both purposes.

A small smile etched its way onto her mouth just as her eyes rose back up to catch Vincent's curious gaze.

"Can I .. hold it, please?" she asked, tempering her voice so as not to sound too excited.