But her husband and daughter knew the truth about her, and simply accepted it as part of the 'package' that they loved. To them, she was the housewife and mother who really tried hard to do things like bake cookies, and sew clothing, even if it wasn't exactly what she'd been created for. Even as she did the dusting, she hummed a little off key as she enjoyed doing something for her family.
What she didn't expect was to hear the door buzzer ring in the middle of the day. "Just a second! Who is it?"
"Just your friendly government worker," came a male voice.
"Didn't expect anything...."
"Didn't think that I was coming this morning."
"Oh," she said with a slight frown, and pressed the button to let the door slide open. "Can I help you?"
"Actually, I'm here about you. Togusa, Planetary Security, Section Nine," he told her, flipping open a worn leather wallet to show her an i.d. and badge.
"I see...."
"I hope that you do."
Her eyes narrowed as she took in the appearance of the rumpled, but somewhat attractive agent. "And just what are you here for?"
"To give you a warning."
"What kind are we talking about? I don't like too many of them...."
"This one's important. Since you've been insisting on sticking to what you're doing, we've been covering up your real past."
"Which I'm grateful for," she allowed, noting how this sounded like he was going to suggest that she 'owed' the provisional government something.
"I hope so, considering what you've been doing."
"Like...."
"Having a fight at the market."
"What? Was I causing too much trouble for you all?"
"Actually...." he began.
"Yeah?"
His expression was a bit wry as he looked toward her. "It kind of makes it that much harder to keep your secret if you show it off in front of everyone."
"Which wasn't the point of doing it."
"Listen, can't we talk about this inside."
"Not unless you can give me a good reason as to why I need some sort of watchdog telling me what to do."
"Huh? You think that I'm...."
"Well, what am I supposed to think?" she growled, glaring at him from under a furrowed brow. "You came here trying to tell me about how bad I've been acting."
"Oh. You thought that I meant that. What you're thinking is the wrong idea."
"Really?"
"Yeah," the brown haired man told her, and ran an embarrassed hand through his hair. "Actually, I didn't mean to put down what you did."
"Then what did you mean to do?"
"To let you know that you were seen doing it, and we had some officers mention what happened. They were candidates for our team, so that we got to talk to them before word spread, but next time, a hot shot rookie, or someone like that, might just rush to spread rumors about you. And we thought that you wouldn't like that."
"Ahhh.... I see. I understand too. But you should know that I didn't do it because I planned it. My daughter was in trouble."
"Now that is something that I can sympathize with."
"How's that?"
"I've got a little girl of my own. If something happened to her...."
Naomi shuddered a bit at what he didn't verbalize. "Pretty much what I'd be thinking."
"Still...."
"Yes?"
"You can come in."
"I can?"
"Well, yeah," she told him, snorting a bit with amusement at his reaction. "Since I know that you're here to give me a head's up on a possible problem so that I can keep from doing it, I'm not so worried about you."
"What about being alone with me."
"Before or after I kick your backside from here to Mars and back?"
"Guess you've made your point," Togusa admitted, chuckling a bit as he stepped inside.
"You wouldn't do that sort of crap, now would you?"
"I'd never cheat on my wife.... 'Ms Armitage'? Or would that be 'Mrs. Sylibus'?"
"Either one's fine."
"Sure thing," he told her with a smile, while:
(Posted Mon, 26 Mar 2007 07:02)
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