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The world passes them by in a colorful blur as the train rumbles towards its destination and Cor watches it all with his head pressed against the glass. This was the first chance their little team had to relax since leaving Niflheim behind, and while the exhaustion of the last few days had finally seemed to seep into his bones, Cor couldn’t let his guard down, especially not now.
“Aw, I’m sorry for bothering you, but your baby is just too precious!” Cor turns his head to where one of the attendants hovers over the table between the seats and coos softly at the baby sleeping in his arms. He tenses, arms shifting around the little bundle as he tightens his hold fractionally. “How old?” He shrugs, trying and failing not to look wary and the woman’s gaze turns into something suspicious.
“Oh, Basch, please, I think you need a nap more than the baby.” Monica slides into the seat across from him, a large smile on her face as she turns to the attendant. “Please forgive my brother, he hasn’t been the same since his wife...” She trails off, making a show of blinking her eyes and looking heartbroken.
“I’m so sorry,” the woman gasps, looking between them with more sympathy than Cor would be comfortable with under truthful circumstances. He opens his mouth and finds he has no idea how to respond and shakes his head instead.
“We have to count our blessings,” Monica says with a sigh, oh so convincing in every way. “I came to bring him and the little guy back home to Tenebrae, I think it will do him a world of good.”
“It is lovely there this time of year,” the attendant agrees, a smile now in place, the suspicion gone completely as she falls hook line and sinker for the sob story Monica so quickly wove them. “I’m sure that’s just what you need, both of you.” She waggles a finger at the baby still sleeping, one tiny hand curled around the fabric of his shirt.
“I think so to,” he agrees. It seems to please the woman to finally get a response out of him, and she turns back to Monica with a friendly smile.
“If you need anything just let me know, we’ll do our best to make the rest of your trip as easy as possible.”
“Thank you so much for the help,” Monica replies, “and there is one thing if it’s not too much trouble-”
Cor shifts, lets his gaze return to the scenery outside once more as Monica talks with the attendant once more, spinning another tale of lost baggage to top it all off. It's best to let her work in these moments, he’s always been better at fighting than the lies of undercover work, even if her quick cover makes his skin itch. He brought it on himself really, not giving the attendant a straight answer in the first place. Finally the woman makes her departure to check the other passengers, and Cor feels himself relax, breathing a sigh of relief. In his arms the baby yawns, and he watches as those big blue eyes blink open and the baby’s face scrunches as he gurgles happily upon seeing him. He fights the smile tugging at his lips, but he knows it must be there anyway.
“You’re lucky I came back when I did.” He looks up at Monica, giving him a knowing and slightly exasperated look as she lifts the abandoned travel magazine off the table and resumes reading it to look busy.
“I know,” Cor sighs, and the baby babbles, reaching up and trying to pull at the stubble growing on his chin. There’s that feeling again, the tightness in his chest, that paternal need to protect. Monica must notice the change in his expression because she sets the magazine down on the table again, open on some chocobo rental page and makes a sound almost like a sigh but with more emphasis.
“What are you going to do, Cor?” He knows she’s talking about the baby, can see it in that aching compassion in her eyes.
“I don’t know,” he replies, because he hasn’t had a damn clue what he was doing since he first saw the kid in that damnable facility. He’d acted on impulse then when he’d broken the glass, when he’s gently removed the IV, when he’d carefully lifted the crying babe and tucked him into the warmth of his tactical coat before he’d fled as the alarms started blaring.
“You’re going to have to figure something out before we get back,” Monica urges gently, and Cor can’t handle looking at her, instead he returns to watching the baby, bright eyed smiling, a little ray of sunshine from such a dark place. Again the baby reaches for him, both arms now stretching as his pudgy fingers grab at his chin and pull at the strings dangling from the hood of his civilians jacket.
“Yeah,” he replies, eyes fixated on the open magazine now so he can think.
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The intercom blares suddenly as the coonductor announces the next stop in half and hour, dulling the buzz of surrounding conversation in the cabin for the length of the message. When it ends Monica sighs and stands suddenly.
“I’m going to step out and give Dustin the signal, we’ll be meeting up with the rendezvous team in Tenebrae and making our way from there, no stops until we hit Insomnia except for gas. It’ll be a long ride.” Cor nods doesn’t speak, throat tight. Monica doesn’t judge his silence, just squeezes his shoulder as she passes, offering what little comfort she can.
“What am I gonna do with you, kid?” He mutters down the baby who simply gurgles out an almost laugh and latches onto his finger when he makes to adjust the blanket.
In that moment he can imagine a life he thought so far out of reach, one with a family, raising a child and working to support him, coming home to school day discussions and those sit down dinners he rarely had growing up. He was only twenty-five and didn’t know a damn thing about taking care of a kid, let alone raising one, but that image is still there, an impossible dream and nothing more. There was no way he was cut out to be a father, and damn he had no idea how this whole thing had escalated so fast. All he’d wanted to do was save a kid from that facility but now… now he had no idea what he wanted to do.
“I got what I could,” the voice startles him and he looks over to see the attendant from before setting a small duffle bag on the table. “Sorry about your luggage, but there should be everything you could need for the baby at least.”
“Thanks,” he replies, reaching for the bag and pulling it towards him. The woman smiles again, and he expects her to leave, but she doesn’t, instead making faces at the baby now paying the new person in his periphery attention.
“He really is just the cutest,” she gushes, making soft little noises much to the baby’s amusement. “What’s his name?” Cor’s mind blanks. This wasn’t part of the cover Monica wove, wasn’t something he’d thought to think about. He’d had a cat for a day as a kid, a stray that had wandered into their small yard and he’d wanted so badly to keep. He’d named it though his father had warned him against doing so, and the parting that followed had broken his heart. Now he could see it, the heartbreak that would follow this, this thing he knew he must do. Everything fell into place in one moment that lasted less than a second.
“Prompto,” he replies, the first thing the comes to mind, the magazine still open and somehow taunting on the table. “His name is Prompto.”
“What a cute name! Well, I wish you two all the best, and I hope things get easier.”
She smiles kindly, and Cor forces himself to give her one in return and then she’s gone back down the aisle.
Cor deflates, drops his head towards his chest until he feels Prompto poke at his cheek, melting his heart with the innocence of the gesture. Shit.
“What am I gonna do?”