The Finder [ABANDONED]

Laila

Zavier was inordinately pleased to get out of Dodge, so to speak. He and Laila have spent Laila’s entire life either in hiding or on the run. Laila has never met another child, besides Dylan. And given that Dylan and Laila are both predominantly in hiding... well the poor kids only have each other.

Koda was checking out the new house while Zavier was musing. Zavier snapped right out it when Koda started barking. But the intermittent yips told Zavier that it was Laila’s mother. Zavier put Laila on the floor.

“Laila honey, go see Mummy.” Laila’s face almost cracked with how wide her grin was; and she ran into the house.

“Mummy!” She shouted almost a second before they collided.

“Hey sweetie. How have you been?”

“Good. Do we get to see Dylan at this house?”

“I don’t know sweetie, but I can find out.” When Zavier could see them, having followed his daughter into the house, he felt the same tightening in his gut that he felt the first time he ever saw Laila’s mother. She only got more beautiful every time he saw her, and with a pang Zavier realised once again that one day soon he is going to look older than her. When he grew old and died, she was only going to look thirty, if that.

Zavier hadn’t noticed her watching him.

“I know that look.” Zavier suddenly looked up, and he saw compassion itself looking right back at him.

“Hey, don’t stress about it. I built a ridllesubar for their food; and if you’re keen I have a procedure that I would like to try on you...” Zavier startled.

“On me?” She nodded.

“Why? What’s it supposed to do?”

“Change you metabolic rate.” Zavier thought over that simple statement, about the last time someone mentioned changing another person’s metabolic rate. He looked at his daughter, and then back at her mother.

“You mean I won’t have to miss more than half of her life?” Laila’s mother nodded.

“That is exactly what I mean.” Zavier whooped and grabbed up the woman in an enormous bear hug.

“It gets better.” Zavier’s eyes widened.

“How could it get any better than this?”

“After nearly eight years, I have finally cleared the backlog. And I also cleared and implemented a new system with D.U.R.O.” She said, grinning fit to burst. Zavier suspected that he knew where this was going, but he was waiting for her to spell it out.

“I’m on vacation!” Zavier felt his own grin reach Cheshire cat proportions.

“And I will receive any summons before the recipient does.”

“What does that mean?”

“In theory, it means that they won’t have time to run.” The implications of that became immediately clear to Zavier; she would be away a lot less.

“Laila is going to be so excited.” He said. “And so am I.” Zavier whispered seductively in her ear. Lillie shivered.