Spaces in between (Stockholm Syndrome: Extended chapters)

September 2022

~Felix~

"Where's my beautiful baby?"

I was lying on the great room couch, nursing a headache that just wouldn't go away. It was a breezy Saturday afternoon. Archer had supposedly gone grocery shopping that morning, leaving me with Marie. As he stood in front of me at that moment, everything about him screamed, "I took a detour!" He had so many shopping bags from a clothing store it was a wonder he was able to hold onto all of them in his small soft hands. He had a grin on his face that told me he was unashamed of his detour.

"Right here!" I gave him a reply to his question, a reply he didn't appreciate.

"Not you. Where's Marie?"

"Still sleeping", I replied. "Thank God. Or you'd make her fit all those clothes you bought".

"Who said I bought...oh never mind. I simply couldn't ignore these clothes. They are so cute, and Marie is growing. She's 6 months old now. She needs new clothes. And oh, speaking of which, I talked to Stella about designing a baby line. She said she'd think about it", he said. "I have great ideas on..."

I interrupted. "Since when are you a clothes designer?"

He shrugged. "I have taste".

"Sure", I said and adjusted my body slightly so I could be comfortable.

"Want to see what I bought? Marie is going to be the cutest baby ever! Of course she already is, but she's going to be even cuter. She'll fall in love when she sees them too", he said. "She's been sleeping for hours now, is that normal? Shouldn't I wake her up?"

"Did you bring my headache pills?"

He opened his mouth slowly and closed it as it dawned on him; he'd completely forgotten to do the one thing I had asked him to do as he stood at the door that morning.

"I...um..."

"You forgot", I said calmly.

"I'm so sorry. I'll go to the convenient store right now", he said apologetically. "I got so..."

"Shh", I said. "Marie is awake".

"How do you even know that? She's not crying"

"She's moving around", I said.

Though it had been years since I gave up my vigilante behavior and thus my training, I hadn't lost my ability to sense things. In fact, with the arrival of Marie it had grown. I could tell she was awake even when far away from her. I could hear the little movements Archer was oblivious to on the baby monitor.

"That super hearing of yours again?" he said.

I gave him a closed-lip smile.

"I'll go get her before she realizes she can't leave her bed by herself", he said.

I closed my eyes and listened to the baby monitor. From the sounds I pictured what Marie was doing. She had probably rolled on to her front and gotten on her hands and knees. At 6 months she could sit unaided; crawl; stand and walk with assistance. She could also laugh and initiate conversation, not that you could understand a word she said.