Chapter Text
Loid got out of bed 2 hours earlier than normal.
He wasn't able to stay up the night before in case suspicion would arise from Yor, causing her to possibly worry about his sleeping habits, she had enough on her plate with all of Camilla's bullshit at work.
Because of this inconvenience, and the fact that he had already slept several hours on their couch, causing an uncomfortable crick in his, he made himself wake at an unnatural hour so he could start preparing for the next 3 days.
First, he needed to construct a disguise for his new alias, Mr. Harrison Winslow.
He would be a young fresh out of school graduate, looking to follow in his father's footsteps and own a smaller company and build his way up to a corporate company.
The night before, Loid and Yor had put Anya to bed and proceeded to discuss plans for Saturday
Yor mentioned being moved into a different building for an undetermined amount of time for her work, but that it shouldn't affect her hours too much. So that left only him needing to come up with an excuse to be out late for the next 3 days. He could always stick with the old psychotic patient in need of some concussion therapy excuse, but he wasn't sure how long he could use that until even Yor got suspicious of him.
He could probably last a while with how easily Yor believed him with medical related things.
He had already been given fake records for Mr. Winslow by the handler, they normally have the things prepared before they even tell him the mission, all they ever need from him is the name he was going to use for his new alias.
Last thing he needed to do was get Anya ready for school.
He couldn't stop one mission for another, Strix was still in full swing.
Thanks to him waking earlier than normal he had the time and ability to actually get Anya up, give him a proper breakfast, and walk her to the bus. A once in a lifetime opportunity in the Forger household.
He creeped into her room, Bond was laying on the bed next to her, shedding all over the bed. He sighed at the sight of the white fur decorating her bedsheets. He can worry about laundry later.
“Anya,” he gently shook her.
Neither her or Bond stirred.
“Anya it's time to get up for school.” He tried again.
Nothing.
“Alright, you made me do this.”
Loid grabbed her from the covers, picking her up, and causing Bond to stir. “Anya, Bondman needs help, the thing, uh” he tried to remember the villain of her favorite show, but all that was coming to his mind was when Franky had dressed up as the villain to go up against Loidman. “Bondman is being attacked by giant peanuts and he needs you to eat them so he can save the princess.”
“No Bondman, I'll save you..” she slurred sleepily.
Loid shook his head. It was good enough for now. He brought her closer so he could carry her out properly, he gently set her on their couch with Bond not far behind.
He decided breakfast could be some simple BLTs with eggs on the side, not complicated but still a good meal, and Anya deserved something more than some boring toast after her big announcement the day before about graduation.
Eventually after getting most of the ingredients prepped, Yor emerged from her room, donned in her work clothes. She smiled as she passed Anya, who was slowly waking up more, on the couch.
“Good morning Loid, what are you making?”
“Bacon lettuce tomato sandwich, with eggs on the side.”
“It smells amazing, do you want some help?”
That was enough to wake the child.”
“No!” Anya said, barreling from the couch to the kitchen, mama I want, uh, I want some morning tea, so you won't be able to help papa!”
“I'm sure tea wouldn't take too long-”
“It's alright Yor, I've got this under control, don't worry about helping out.” Loid chuckled, flipping the bacon, and getting the satisfying sizzle.
“Well, alright, if you say so.”
“Mhm! Mhm!” Anya nodded aggressively.
“Anya, go get your uniform on and get your school bag together while me and mama finish everything in here.”
“Okay!”
Anya scampered off to her room, leaving Yor and Loid to finish breakfast. The calm sounds of the morning rang through the kitchen, along with dishes clinking and the kettle running.
It reminded Loid of mornings when he was younger. His mom would wake up each Sunday morning to make a special breakfast, and his father would be sitting in his chair reading the newspaper. He didn't do homework on Sundays, so it was simply peaceful.
“So new building today?” he asked Yor as she poured the tea.
“Yea, I'm not sure what to expect, but I think it will be fine, it's only for a couple days, and I won't have to see Camilla either.”
“That's a relief for everyone that she isn't going with you.”
“Ah, don't say that, she's just tough to get along with, for me specifically.”
Loid paused for a moment,, he needed to choose his words carefully when speaking of Yors coworkers, they were some of her only social group, that he was aware of. “She's not a very nice person.”
“I know, but she's Dominic's girlfriend, and I need to try and be civil with her. Even if it's difficult.”
“I understand, I suppose I just want you to know my viewpoint on her.”
“Thank you, I appreciate that, Loid.” Yor smiled, setting their respective teas down at the table.
“Anyas done!”
“Perfect,” Loid said, putting the last of the sandwiches together. “Just in time for breakfast.”
“Yay!”
The table was set, all food going to each occupant of it, Anya snuck Bond a few pieces of bacon under the table, Loid simply looked the other way, sipping at his own tea. Yor quickly finished, and left for work, waving a goodbye, and apologizing for not being able to see Anya off at the bus.
Soon enough the time came for the bus to arrive and Loid walked Anya out.
“Alright, have a good day, remember don't punch anyone.”
“Papa it was one time, you don't have to say that to me everyday!”
“I know, just making sure, bye.”
“Bye bye papa!”
The bus left, leaving Loid to get ready for his second mission.
—-----------
“Mr. Winslow” Loid raised his head from the day's newspaper they had laying on the table. “Mr. Johnson is ready to meet with you now sir.”
Loid rose from his seat with a slight nod of his head. “Thank you, ma’am”
“Of course, his office is just down that hall to the left.”
He nodded again in affirmation, heading down the hallway. It wasn't very long, and just a simple gray interior like the rest of the room. It was most likely that the room holding all the information on Wesatlis was somewhere else away from most employees' workspaces.
He reached the door without trouble, not that he was expecting much this early in the mission.
Loid was usually always prepared for unexpected situations, it just came with the job, the night before while he was lying in his bed he came up with at least 30 scenarios that could have gone wrong just by him stepping foot into the building.
Most of them were ridiculous and involved some form of a bomb going off, and possible terrorist attacks
So when he opened the door to Mr. Johnson's office, to find his wife sitting in one of their designer chairs making idle conversation with the man, It was not something he had made preparations for.
Sure, he had found it a bit funny that the night before she mentioned how she was going to be sent to a different location building for an unknown period of time, but it was just a coincidence.
Surely just a coincidence.
He had to use every bit of concentration and control he had to make sure his surprise did not show through in his expression.
Mr. Harrison Winslow was not a man to get shocked easily.
So with as much confidence, Loid pulled up a seat next to his wife, sending her a light smile, before giving his full attention to the man in front of him.
“Good evening sir, thank you for meeting with me today.”
“Of course my boy, we're always looking for more bright-eyed people such as yourself!”
Yor smiled at him, and Harrison Winslow Smiled back.
Loid had to make sure not to smile like a husband to Yor, if that even made sense to himself. So he would stick with just a quick nod and a quirk of the lips.
“Ah yes, let me introduce you two,” The man stood from his desk, pushing in his rolly chair beneath it. “Mr. Winslow, this is Yor Forger, Mrs. Forger, this is Mr. Harrison Winslow.” he clapped his hands together. “The reason I have you both here today is that you both happen to be new, so we're just going to kill two birds with one stone here and give you the tour together.”
“Sounds efficient, good plan sir.”
“If I suck up a little bit to him now he might just mention me offhandedly to other members, even if it is just complaints about having to show new people around the building.”
“Yes thank you, I really appreciate you showing me around even though I’ll only be here for a short period of time,” Yor said, her hands pressed together.
“It's nothing you two, quite literally just a part of the job!”
Loid noticed a slight twitch in his eye, betraying the words coming out of his mouth. The more he examined him the more he could see his movements of annoyance. This man most certainly would rather be doing something else.
But he also seemed nervous, with the way his fingers drummed against the desk, and his incessant foot-tapping rang out through the room. There was something going on he was hiding. Almost guaranteed that it was something that has to do with Westalis government information.
He would keep this man high up on the radar.
Mr. Johnson led them out of his office, waving to employees as they walked by. He stepped with confidence, Loid was having a hard time discerning if this man was the one in control of their little situation with Westalis, or if there was another person higher up he'd need to talk to soon.
“Mrs. Forger this area up here will be more of your current occupation, we keep a good portion of our files in this specific section."
“Ah, wonderful, thank you.”
Loid had almost reacted when he heard the name Forger come out of Mr. Johnson's mouth. He gripped his briefcase tighter at the almost slip up again.
He looked at the entrance to where Yor would be working, if that's where a large portion of the files were kept, it's possible that's where they were withholding all the stolen Westalis information.
But that seemed too easy to infiltrate, the handler had specifically mentioned that it would be in a heavily secured room, no accidents could be made near it or the alarm system would go and trigger a panic.
He fidgeted slightly with his handle once again. He needed to keep up the poise of an elegant, (as Henry Henderson would put it) nervous graduate.
“So what brought you to want to do this kind of work Mr. Winslow?"
Yor addressing him as Mr. made Loid almost have a visceral reaction, it felt wrong in every way imaginable. He was not a Mr. to her, he was practically an equal. Only in the family sense of course, and possibly strength.
Actually yes strength, Yor was definitely stronger than Loid.
The look she gave him made him remember she asked a question, and that he probably shouldn't gape like a goldfish at a married woman just because she used the suffix Mr.
"Ah, you know the usual, I'm trying to follow through with the life my father had planned for me, I've been working and wanting this since I was just a boy."
"How noble of you, and I heard you just finished up your college years, how was that?"
"Tedious as you would expect, long nights studying, some fun here and there."
"Not too much fun I hope!"
"Of course not sir."
"Sounds like the usual alright, where did you attend?"
East Bridge institute
"It was not Eden College, but it taught me a lot, and I'm proud to have gone there." He said with a tight grin.
Twilight had in fact been to East Bridge exactly once in his life, and it was when he was just starting out as a spy. The handler had made sure to mention that they don't normally send rookies to deal with students, but he was the only one there at the time who was actually passable for a college student, and with his natural talent for disguises, it was a perfect test for him. It wasn't a relatively difficult mission, all he had to do was retrieve evidence of a professor using information learned in Westalis about their current war stance.
He had learned later that the man had originally been a professor and a citizen of Westalis, but after being offered a large sum of money was persuaded to change his residence and gain new citizenship in Ostania.
It made him angry, but he was unsurprised by humans' priorities in riches, Strix was a good wakeup call on noticing everyone's behaviors. Anya's friend Becky was a fine example, though she seemed better recently.
Loid returned his view back to his wife. Was Yor normally this curious with strangers? Loid had never seen her ask so many questions to someone she wasn't at least properly acquainted with, and she knew she wouldn't be working with Harrison Winslow for her duration of time here.
"I have a daughter attending Eden right now actually, she's a first-year."
Loid felt a swell of pride within him, he didn't know how to react to it, knowing that yor was truly like every other mom out there, bragging about her child's accomplishments. It was perfect. For the mission of course. "Wow that's a tough acceptance, she must be extremely intelligent."
"She really is, her little graduation party is this Saturday actually."
"They're giving first years a graduation, they really are over the top like I hear everyone say."
"I believe showing a child that their year is important by giving them a graduation will help them feel more accomplished with all of their achievements." Yor rushed out.
Loid blinked, and let a moment of silence pass. "Wow that was a mouthful ma'am, you definitely sound like the mother of an Eden Scholar."
"I'm going to take that as a compliment Mr. Winslow."
He laughed internally, that phrase was the exact one they had practiced together, normally if she started talking with a true sense of belief people would either, 1. Actually understand what she was saying, or 2. Nod agree, and pretend they understood and move onto a different topic.
Loid had told her more often than not people would go with option number 2, so that's what he would go with now.
“Mr. Winslow this area here will be where you go for the next couple of days, we will discuss your area of expertise and go over what exactly you would be doing here with us.”
“Sounds great sir”
The hall was large, and there was a window showing a view of the entire city, and just close enough to the window, was a side room with a keypad attached.
He stared for just slightly too long at the door, not a second later Mr. Johnson was pulling his attention away.
“Don't worry about that down there, no one uses that except some of the higher ups.”
“I thought you were one of the higher ups sir?” Yor asked.
“Even higher than myself ma’am.” He adjusted his suit jacket.
“Must be important stuff in there.” Loid noted.
“Yes, certainly,” he spared one last glance to the room “So neither of you need to worry about it!”
“Of course.” Loid nodded, along with Yor.
“Well then,” The man clapped his hands together. “That's about the only two sections you two really need to worry about, everywhere else is a different branch and unrelated to your expertise, and since you Mrs. Forger will only be here a few days you won't really need to be anywhere else, and Mr. Winslow, we'll give you a better tour once we've decided where you will best fit in the company.”
“Thank you Mr. Johnson.” Yor and Loid said in unison.
“Alright, both of you go to your places, Mr. Winslow head in here and we'll start all your preparations.”
Yor gave a small wave as she headed off in the direction they came from, Loid returned it with his own, as he stepped into the conference room.
This is where he starts to get what he came for.
—-----------
Harrison Winslow was Agent Twilight.
There was no doubt about it in Yors mind. Every instinct she had ever trained went off the moment that man had stepped into Mr. Johnson's office, from the way he walked, and his hesitant stance when noticing her.
It had seemed too obvious at first, a man that was a fresh graduate just starting out looking to follow in his father's footsteps. At first, she thought they possibly sent in a stunt to distract her, but there was no way that the Westalis government could have known she would be on their trail, the Shopkeeper along with the rest of the Garden always made sure of that.
So Twilight was just getting a bit sloppy with his work, it simply worked in her favor.
She walked into the apartment, setting her bag on the living room table. Anya was still at school, and Loid said he would need to stay a bit later at work because of a certain patient that was having attachment issues, and needed extra support.
So she had the house to herself for a couple of hours.
A perfect amount of time to bake something for her freshly soon to graduate daughter.
Yor immediately went for a large cookbook slightly wedged in the back of their pantry, Loid never mentioned where it came from, but it really was only consistent with his handwriting, in particular, here and there was what looked like a woman's lovely cursive, but it was always brief when she noticed it.
She flipped through the pristine pages, each was stained with a different ingredient, showing the amount of love from the use this book had been given over the years. They must have been a family big on baking in general, no wonder Loid was so good at it.
She halted on a certain scribbled on-page, viewing the contents, and finding it to be a simple Lemon Bar recipe, many things had been circled around it.
That probably meant it was someone's favorite.
Lemon bars it was.
She pulled everything out that the recipe called for, organizing it nicely along with measuring cups and bowls.
She just needed to practice cooking and baking, it couldn't be as difficult as she always made it, she had to be able to learn this skill.
She threw a couple ingredients in, not paying too much attention to the amount, and grabbed the whisk.
It was weirdly solid, and the picture in the book showed a nice smooth texture, so she simply started whisking harder, until she heard a snap.
The whisk had snapped in two.
She needed to work on strength control.
This time she grabbed a spoon, hopefully less breakable than the whisk.
Eventually she got a concoction that wasn't completely solid, but was now soupy. It probably needed more sugar, or flour, maybe baking soda?
She ended up putting in all 3, and decided that was good enough, and stuck it in the oven.
Perfect it would be done by the time Loid and Anya got home, and then they could try it and tell her how it tastes.
–—---------
It didn't rise at all.
Yor let her head fall in defeat at the abomination within her hold. She made Lemon Soup. Anya would not want Lemon Soup as a graduation food.
She set the bowl down and stared at it, how did she manage to mess it up this badly?
Before she could process any longer, the door of their apartment opened.
“Yor? Are you already back?”
“Uh, yea, I got off a bit early since it was just a sort of small orientation.”
“Oh, that's good,” he walked over to his wife. “Um, what's happening here?” He asked, gesturing to the mess in the kitchen.
“I wanted to bake something for Anya.” she said her head low again.
“So I see.”
It was quiet while Loid took in the kitchen.
“Yor, would you perhaps like me to help you make something? I can see you tried really hard on this, and I know Anya would be simply ecstatic to know you did this for her.”
Yor wrung her hands together, failing to make eye contact with Loid. “Isn't it embarrassing, Loid?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I know we've been over this before, but isn't it weird having a wife who can't make a simple meal, or bake something for her daughter? Even Bond could probably follow this recipe better and he's literally a dog,” she said motioning to their dog in the corner.
Loid sighed, giving her a sympathetic smile, while Bond let out a woof. “Yor, when are you going to realize, there's just, really nothing embarrassing about you”
There was an odd moment of silence as the words processed in Yors head. Only the sound of the faucet dripping resonated.
Her face finally shot up, a blush spreading across it. “What are you talking about?”
He simply shrugged. “I meant what I said. Sure Yor, cooking, baking, and frankly anything even related to the kitchen really isn't your thing. That's perfectly fine, we all have our strengths and weaknesses.”
“But, that doesn't mean you're an embarrassment or anything of the sort. You are Yor Briar Forger, an amazing woman who ran down a park hill faster than I could have ever imagined just to try and help an old lady get her purse back! How many wives have you ever heard of doing something like that? And to Anya you're simply irreplaceable, who needs cooking when your mom basically has superhuman strength. I still think she tells all her friends at Eden about how you sliced a tennis ball into cubes with just the racket alone.
Yors face was completely red at this point, she had begun playing with the hem of her sweater, unsure of how to respond.
Loid noticed, and gently grabbed his wife's hands. “Let's just say, that you were born with so many wonderful strengths, that they had to have at least one unnatural weakness, and that weakness just happened to be anything food-related, and it's fine, because you have me to cook when the time comes, so you can continue being an amazing mother to Anya.”
She was grasping at the back of his suit jacket, staining tears on the front. “Thank you Loid, that really means a lot to me,” she said between subtle hitches.
Loid went stiff, contact really wasn't his strong suit, depending on a mission, you didn't get much of it, and if you did it was never genuine. How was he supposed to tell if this was genuine?
Yors gentle sobs filled their kitchen, Bond had waddled over in that time, leaning up against her legs.
It's all for the mission. It's all for the mission. It's all for the mission.
Could he even believe himself at this point?
Loid let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in and uneasily wrapped his arms around Yor, reciprocating the hug.
Was he doing this right? Was he holding too tight? Too loose? Did she even want to be hugged back or did she only want somewhere to hide her face and tears? It never seemed this complicated before. He would hug his mother all the time when he was young, it was a simple task.
Except it wasn't a task was it? A hug wasn't supposed to be something to overthink, a hug was a source of comfort for people.
He grit his teeth, some emotion swelling he couldn't describe within him. Agent Twilight would not be reduced to shambles over a simple embrace.
Before he could let his mind wander any farther, Yor gently squeezed his middle, luckily without breaking any of his ribs.
“Just relax Loid, I know we aren't very physical with one another, and I understand that may be because you still haven't fully gotten past your previous wife, and probably never will, but maybe we could ease into it, just go slow?”
Loids breath hitched, his face heating up. Was that what she meant by the hug? She had wanted to be more physical? Not just to use him as a snot rag?
Yor looked up at his lack of response, immediately realizing her mistake as soon as she saw his pale face. “Wait wait! I didn't mean it like that! I just meant holding hands, or hugging more! It would also make us look more like a real couple! Loid I swear I didn't mean anything else by that, I would never cross a boundary and ask that of you!”
“It's alright Yor, I was just a bit startled by your wording is all.”
“Ahh, I'm so sorry! I need to think before I just say something like that.” She covered her face with her hands.
Loid chuckled, “Yor calm down” he made a gentle grab for her hands, bringing them away from her face. “If you're not too flustered, I think I would actually like that proposition, to be more physical, of course, only in the, as you put it, hugging and hand-holding sense.”
Just for the mission, just so we look more like a couple. That's all it is.
“Are you sure? You don't have to or anything just for my sake I'll be alright.”
“I believe it might just be a bit good for my sake as well.”
There was another moment of silence where they simply watched each other, Loid went over all her features, not that he needed to, he already knew everything about her that he needed to, but there was something nice about getting to actually view her in a way that didn't require him to prepare for a worst-case scenario.
It was strangely calming.
“Loid” Yors hands reached up to his face hovering over his cheeks.
“Yes?” he said in a quick breath.
Her arms moved again, the sleeve of her sweater brushing against his skin as she reached atop his head, removing his hat. “You never took this off.”
“You didn't give me the chance to.”
“Sorry”
“Nothing to be sorry about”
Loid couldn't tell if they were slowly leaning into each other, or if they had been this close when he walked in earlier, and only just now noticed. Either way, the sickly sweet smell of lemon invaded his senses as Yor fidgeted with his hat.
“Loid-”
Just then the door burst open, revealing an overexcited child with far too much energy anyone should ever have after a school day.
“Anya's home!”
“Shit”
“Fuck”
Yor and Loid immediately separated, Yor still hanging onto his hat while Loid faltered at the sudden interruption.
“Anya! You startled us” Yor said, laughing nervously.
“That was close, what was I even doing there? Get yourself together Yor!”
Anya looked at Loid, his face almost blank, but not like the usual stoic one he sported every day.
“I have no idea where that was going, this can't happen again, everything needs to be planned, nothing more can be unexpected.”
“Mama and Papa were flirting!”
“We were not!” both screamed in unison
Anya giggled at her flustered parents, throwing her backpack down and walking over to pet Bond. “Then what are mama and papa doing together all alone in the kitchen?”
Yor quickly moved, grabbing the book off the counter, and showing it off to her daughter “We were just baking!”
“Yes, baking.” Loid coughed, eyeing the book his wife held.
“I haven't seen that in a while, did the handler put it here for the mission?”
Anya's face turned to one of horror. “Mamas baking?”
“Not if I have any more say” Loids eyes wandered to the unevenly cut lemons on their kitchen counter.
“I was,” Yor responded, deflating at Anya's tone. “But, luckily papa said he would be willing to help me make something.”
“Papas baking!”
“Indeed I did, but I think it's best if we wait until tomorrow to make something, that way I can take a trip to the store after I get off work instead of going out again tonight.”
“I'll go by the store in the morning, bring everything back home, and then I can scout out the building more in the later hours, I need to find someone willing to give me a key by tomorrow.”
Anya shook her head, trying to shake off her papa's thorough thinking. She had just spent the entire day at school, she didn't want to process anymore.
"Ah perfect, while Loids out getting groceries I can spend more time poking around at Mr. Harrison Winslow. Or Agent Twilight, as I should call him.”
Anya immediately ceased all her actions.
Agent Twilight? But that was papa, and there was no way her mama knew papa was a spy.
She had heard papa thinking about Harrison Winslow the night before, but only briefly because she had moved to her room with Bond.
An overwhelming feeling of dread started to pass through her, she was never good at hiding her emotions, so Loid immediately picked up on it.
“Don't worry Anya, I'll make sure mama doesn't put salt instead of sugar this time.”
Anya smiled despite that not being her main issue. She could be overreacting, her mama did sometimes get a little carried away with her thoughts. She might just want papas autograph, he was a very cool spy, just like Bondman!”
“It's alright Yor, think about what Loid said, you have other strengths. You may not be able to make some simple Lemon Squares, but you can easily puncture every major artery in Twilight's body.”
This was too much.
Anya looked to Bond, possibly for guidance. He simply borfed at her and moved over to the TV.
That seemed like a good plan for now.
“I'm gonna watch TV!”
“Oh, alright. Remember to still do a little bit of studying, I know it's the end of the term, but we can't have you falling behind anymore.”
“I will!”
Loid sighed, running a hand through his hair, it was tussled from his hat, which Yor still had a hold of. “I can put that up now.”
“Oh of course, sorry if I wrinkled it.”
“It's fine, just a hat.”
“Right,”
He took the hat from Yor, walking over to the rack in the doorway and hanging it up. His view moved to the abrupt sound of TV static that lasted a few seconds. Anya had started watching Spy Wars in the living room, completely engrossed in it while she laid down on Bond like a giant pillow.
He felt a warmth at the sight of them.
Focus, back to the original question he had.
He couldn't see Anya's smirk from the living room.
“Yor? Where'd you find that cookbook? I know we had a couple but I hadn't seen that one in a while.” he asked, walking back over to the kitchen.
“Oh!” she grabbed it again, opening it up to the Lemon Squares. “It was kind of buried in the back, but still noticeable. I grabbed it because it seemed a bit thicker than the other so I thought there might be more of a chance for me to cook something right. Great how that turned out right?” she laughed slightly at the mess left behind on the counter. “Anyway, when I started going through it I noticed a lot of writing, so I assumed that maybe it belonged to your last wife?” The last part came out unsure and weary, hopefully Loid wouldn't be too upset if it was his dead wifes, and Yor just started using it without permission.
“Ah, I see.” he flipped through a couple pages of the book, gently feeling the paper. “Well, it wasn't my last wifes.”
“Oh, then who’s was it? if you don't mind me asking.”
He paused for a moment, pondering if he really wanted to tell Yor. There wasn't a way it could jeopardize the mission, it was his own personal comfort level.
“My mothers actually.”
Yor noticed the small smile breaching his face, she'd only heard about his mother once, and she had been far too inebriated to take anything in properly while he spoke of her. “Did she like to bake a lot?”
“She did, but believe it or not, a lot of this writing is my own.”
“I had noticed that, you have a very distinct style.” she moved her hand across the page to the fancier cursive, “was this your mothers writing?”
“Certainly is, she was very proud of it.”
“You two must have baked all the time, there's practically more writing in here from you than there is for the actual recipes!”
“Yes, I quite enjoyed it as a boy, and still do, but there's never much time anymore is there?”
Yor frowned, Loid was working a lot these days, and he was always out much later than what the clinic hours were. “Well then it's good we'll be baking tomorrow! And neither of us can back out of this now, absolutely not.” Her face went from determined to to thoughtful within a second “Unless of course it's an emergency at the clinic, then of course it could wait.”
He chuckled. “Thank you Yor, I'll try and make sure I'm back in enough time after buying the groceries for what we’re baking.”
“Yes, and I'll make sure I'm back as soon as possible. I know I'm staying a bit later, but it will be fine!”
“Of course.” Loid shut his eyes with a content smile. Right now the sickly sweet smell of lemon was oddly comforting, maybe it was knowing that tomorrow it would be a scent of something more fresh, or the fact that his wife was so adamant on making sure he got to bake, either way, there was a feeling of home to it.
He hadn't felt at home in a very long while, and he wasn't supposed to. It was his job to move around, create fake homes, fake relationships, and repeat the process until he died.
But something about this didn't feel as fake as it should.
Maybe he could indulge just a little bit.
Without warning he wrapped his arms around his wife, and sunk his face into her hair, gently moving her headband out of the way of his nose. “Thank you Yor, that really means a lot to me.”
Yor being only slightly startled, gently embraced him back, her hands steadily moving across his back. “Of course Loid.”
Anya watched silently from the living room as her parents hugged, Bond also peeping with her. She was going to worry about what her mama said tomorrow. Right now all she wanted was to enjoy her papa finally realizing they might be a bit more than a mission to him.
Later that night in bed Loid would tell himself that moment of weakness was to feed into Yors request of being more physical. So they would look like a real couple in the end.
All for the sake of the mission.
He needed to get better about lying to himself.