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Kelly and Pablo were grinning at him from their seats across from him in the waiting room. 'So cute,' Kelly mouthed at him.
Ash glared. Kassie had her head tucked under his chin, and he wasn't willing to try mouthing anything back. The kid wasn't that deep of a sleeper. He had one arm wrapped around her, keeping her from falling off of his lap, and he slowly raised his middle finger behind her back. It just made Kelly grin wider and Pablo snapped another picture with his phone. Fuck.
His other arm was pinned since Mia had dozed off while leaning against his left side and was using his upper arm as a pillow. Brandy was on his other side, contorted in the padded metal chair with her back against his side and her legs dangling over the metal armrest. He was pretty sure he'd been able to pull off that kind of position when he'd been around her age but just looking at her made his back ache.
Actually, this chair was fucking uncomfortable and his back was just aching. It had been decades since he'd last willing stepped foot in a hospital for anything but he was positive the waiting room chairs were worse now than they were in the eighties.
He was trying not to think too hard about why he was here.
Kassie shifted, her hair tickling his neck as her head slid lower against his chest, getting closer to the doll in her arms. What'd she call it? Knifette? He could admit to having been slightly intimated when she'd stared him in the eyes while twisting the rubber head off to show him the two-inch blade hidden inside.
Kid was going to be a right pain in deadite ass.
But he didn't like how close her face was getting to the rubber. What if it gave and she cut herself in her sleep? Then again, she slept with the fucking thing and carried it around twenty-four-seven. He trusted her with it. Beth trusted her with it. The rest of the family had accepted it as her comfort item. From what he could figure out, she was the one who put the knife in the doll in the first place and she hadn't injured herself yet.
There was always a first time.
And Kelly and Pablo had finally grown tired of watching them, instead staring at each other and whispering as they held hands.
"Hey, Kassie?"
She gave a sleepy mutter but raised her head away from the Doll of Death. "Dad?"
Ah, fuck... "No, sorry, Sweetie." He shouldn't track her dad down and give the bastard a piece of his mind. He really shouldn't, but dammit, he wanted to.
It took a special kind of asshole to completely ignore your one surviving kid after learning she witnessed her mom and siblings die. He couldn't imagine ignoring any of his girls. Sure, he'd missed them growing up but, in his defense, he hadn't known about any of them until a few years ago.
After Brandy, he had wondered if he had any other kids out there. As much as he hoped he didn't at the time, he couldn't imagine not having them around now. Even if he wished Mia hadn't followed so closely in his footsteps. But he hadn't thought 'chainsaw' was an inheritable trait either. Or that the curse of the book could follow his lineage.
Or that those other two copies he'd left in that graveyard were actual copies that could come back to bite his family in the ass one day.
Or that he'd ever have a family for it to bite.
But as far as Mia went, Pablo had whipped her up a nice prosthetic and he was using his own experiences to help her through her latest relapse. It wasn't perfect. He didn't think he'd ever had an actual addiction and it kept him from relating to her situation completely but he understood using drugs to cope. He understood that too well. He just hoped that was enough.
He ran his hand through Kassie's hair. She was looking up at him, and he saw the mischievous glint a second before she spoke.
"Grandpa Ash?"
"Not your grandpa either." He ruffled her hair slightly harder earning a giggle. He'd probably stop arguing it after today, but he'd like to try to convince himself he wasn't old enough to be anybody's grandpa for as long as he could.
Backache aside, he didn't feel old enough to be one. Whatever those Knights had done to him while he'd been in stasis, he felt better now than he had in years. And he was only... fifty-something... Sixty? Somewhere around there. He'd stopped keeping track a long time ago and time travel didn't help.
The door opened, and it didn't look like he'd be able to pretend much longer. Kelly and Pablo separated, and he hadn't noticed Brandy and Mia had even woken up until they started straightening themselves out to give the doctor their attention.
"Family of Beth Bixler?"