Chapter Text
There was nothing Adam hated more than after school pick up. This was mostly in part because he didn't have a nice air conditioned minivan to wait in. But that wasn't the whole picture. It wasn't like he needed to drive anyway, the elementary school was only 4 1/2 blocks from the apartment. That was like a healthy hike. Kids needed lots of exercise anyway. It was fine.
It was just that unlike the well polished suburban soccer moms lined up down the block, he was stuck standing like a total creep at the playground gate. He was also conveniently exposed to said mother's prying eyes. The very judgmental, I'm-prepared-to-call-dateline sort of prying eyes.
Why did the bus driver have to go and break her stupid leg on a ski trip? What bus driver had the funds to pay for a ski trip anyway? Should he consider a career change?
"Hi there, who are you here to pick up?” Adam jumped away from the low school gate as a cheery woman in a bright yellow cardigan appeared from nowhere. So much for his surveillance skills. Maybe he was better prepared for a bus driving position.
"Diana... Faulkner-Stanheight," Adam said, quickly tacking on the last name as the lady looked down her list. She smiled slightly as she presumably reached the correct name.
"Can I have some I.D please?"
"Sure," Adam reached into his back pocket and awkwardly fished for his wallet in his slightly too big jeans. He did his best to ignore how bare the inside was as he handed over the I.D, "Good to know you're not just handing the kids over like Halloween candy."
A raised eyebrow was the only response he got as Yellow Cardigan scanned his license with more deliberation than most bouncers Adam had encountered. Finally she handed it back over with a nod.
"It's nice that you're doing this for your sister. Do your parents work late hours?" she asked as reached down to her hip to unlatch a walkie talkie. Adam blinked back at her, taken off guard.
"Uh-"
"DAD!" they both turned at the cacophony of noise, as the doors leading to the playground burst open. A head of curly blond hair, with several loose butterfly clips shot forward. Adam instinctively held out a hand in front of the gate to make sure Diana wouldn’t run into it before it had been opened. Yellow Cardigan’s eyes widened, panic clear in her features as Diana finally reached them, playfully bumping the top of her head against Adam’s outstretched hand.
"Hey, ready to blow this popsicle stand?" he asked, mussing her hair so one butterfly clip was in a truly precarious position hanging near her ear.
"Diana, you’re supposed to stay inside until called," Yellow Cardigan said, clearly still flustered.
"But Ms. Anderson I told Mr. Chambers I saw my Dad through the window and he told me I could go out!" Diana protested, eyes wide and a little too innocent to be sincere. Adam watched as Ms. Anderson melted easily, and tried his best to hide the smirk that was creeping its way onto his lips.
“Alright, but next time please wait,” she said carefully, and Diana grinned up at her beatifically.
“We good to go?” Adam asked as he watched Diana nod her head like she was diligently taking her teacher's words to heart.
“Of course Mr. Stanheight, and I apologize before, I didn’t realize-”
“Yeah, it’s no problem,” Adam said, stepping out of the way as Diana shot past the now opened gate. “See you tomorrow Ms. Anderson.”
Adam took Diana’s hand and started walking them away as casually and as fast as he could. He hoped that she at least couldn’t feel the eyes watching them like he could. She seemed preoccupied with something else anyway, absently swinging their hands together. Back and forth, back and forth. When they turned the corner on the avenue, he let out a slow breath.
They walked in that companionable silence for exactly three seconds before Diana turned to him frowning.
“I did see you through the window, I didn’t do anything wrong,” she complained, and Adam looked down at her with a raised eyebrow.
“I get it kid, but it’s better to follow your teacher’s rules. It’s to keep you safe,” he tried, because it sounded like something a dad should say. He wasn’t sure it was very convincing, and her next question seemed to prove that it wasn’t.
“Even if they're stupid rules?” she asked, scrunching up her nose like she’d smell something gross. Adam let out a small laugh, shaking his head.
“Yeah, especially if they’re stupid rules. Now come on, how was your day?”
This question generally kept them busy till they made it back to the apartment together. Today was no different. As they waited for the rickety elevator to greet them they settled on the topic of the new Pokemon deck release, which he hoped would still be relevant come Christmas time.
“-And Jessica said she has a shiny Ho-Oh and Kingdra, and she said she was gonna bring it tomorrow to show at recess. I don’t think she’s telling the truth though because she also lied about her parents not getting divorced.”
“Diana,” Adam chastised lightly, and she threw her hands up defensively.
“She did, Dad, I swear!”
“Okay, Jessica is a liar, I’m sorry I doubted you,” he said, pushing her into the elevator with an eye roll. She bounced in, one backpack strap slipping off her shoulder, and when she whipped back around while the doors closed she whacked him lightly with it.
“Oh, Dad! Mrs. Henry says the Scholastic book fair is coming next week, and I was wondering if I could have ten dollars this year instead of 5 because I want to buy the last two Animorphs books and a cool eraser,” she asked, smiling so he could see her missing canine. He leaned back against the rail of the elevator and let out a sigh.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he settled on finally and Diana squealed.
“Thank youuu!” she crowed, jumping at him so hard the elevator shook slightly. He lifted her up, letting her hook her arms around his neck. She was almost getting too big for it, but he studiously ignored the shaking in his arms as the elevator dinged to let them out.
“Come on Monkey, let's get you back to the jungle,” he said, managing to carry her to their door, her legs swinging while giggling her head off. He set her down in the entryway, and exaggeratedly wiped away fake sweat from his forehead. Her giggles died down as he turned back round to lock the door behind them, and watched out of the corner of his eye as she made a beeline for the living room, backpack already half off her shoulder.
“Hey, you know homework first, then you can read.”
“I only have math today though,” she said with a level of disdain accurate for the concept of capitalism and Nickleback. Adam grabbed her backpack from her and moved to set it on their dining table, ignoring her moaning.
“Good, then it’ll get done quickly. I have to go work in the dark room for a bit, we’ll be doing our homework together,” he reasoned.
“Fine,” she sighed heavily, and then dragged her feet towards the kitchen table at a snail's pace. He waited patiently until she was sat down, and then planted a loud wet kiss on the crown of her head.
“Thanks D,” he clapped his hands as he stepped away from the table, “Okay, you know the rules, knock and wait for me to tell you if it’s okay before you come into the dark room.”
“I knowww, I think you’ve told me 5000 bajillion times,” Diana groused as she took her rumpled math worksheet out of her bag.
“Good, then 5000 bajillion and 1 won’t hurt,” he grinned at her and she stuck her tongue out to blow a very loud raspberry, before bending her head to search through her backpack for a pencil. No one could ever tell him she wasn't his at least.
He moved through the kitchen, and carefully eased the door to the dark room open. He made sure the door was closed before turning to flick on the red safe light. The room became awash in the deep red he often saw in the dark of night behind his eyelids.
He got to work carefully removing the negatives he’d taken this afternoon and loaded them into his developing spiral. This itself was a quick rote movement, and he was able to place the spiral into the developing tank, reaching up on his shelves to start the 15 minute timer in quick succession. While he waited, he turned to look over the photos he’d been working over the day before.
He’d been working these moonlighting gigs for years, he was very familiar with the expressions of guilty people. He wasn’t sure about Lawrence Gordon though. He’d been following with the guy for a month, and he wasn't sure what he was supposed to be seeing. The guy was a cancer doctor, he rarely spent time away from the hospital and when he did it was to immediately go home. He was, putting it mildly, really fucking boring, but Tapp was paying big bucks. Adam was in no position to argue with big bucks.
But really, not even the most paranoid spouse had made him spend so much time following every single movement of another person. It was frankly starting to feel a little unhealthy.
He reached forward slightly to run a finger along the edge of one photo he’d taken of the doctor outside a cafe. Totally normal rich guy stuff. Iced coffee, pressed polo, and a big watch resting comfortably on his wrist. His middle finger rested in the hollow of the other man's throat, thinking for a moment what it would actually feel like to-
The timer went off with a startling ring, and Adam jumped back, feeling his face flush with embarrassment. Not his most shining moment. He shook his head, frustrated, and moved over to the developing tank.
This was becoming more than a little unhealthy.
He let himself fall into the flow of rinsing the negatives, placing them in the enlarger, and adjusting the photographic paper on the baseboard. And then the endless process of bathing each photo in the developer, stop bath and fixer chemical trays.
His eyes were getting blurry by the time he heard a tentative knock on the door. He straightened his position on his stool and felt his spine pop in several places.
“One sec,” he called out, running a hand down his face, realizing how stiff he’d gotten in such a short time. He grabbed down the photos hanging from their clothespins, and organized them in a folder from the work desk. With this in hand, he shuffled sideways over to the door. He opened it a crack and peered down to see Diana looking up at him, fidgeting with a strand of her hair.
“Yeah Diana?”
“What’s for dinner?”
Adam blinked down at her, eyes still adjusting and he felt his heart plummet a little. The rest of the apartment was bathed in the dimness of twilight. He glanced down at his watch and grimaced. It was nearly 8 already.
“Uh, lets go check,” he said, voice gruff with disuse, and he leaned back into the room to shut off the red safe light. He squeezed his way out the door, and led Diana to the fridge. As he opened the door she clambered up onto the counter next to him.
Adam looked into the hollow depths of their fridge and tried not to let the fear show in his face. Diana sat, legs swinging, thankfully not paying enough attention to notice. Her feet tapped rhythmically against the loose cabinet doors below. All they had left was a bottle of ketchup, three slices of American cheese and half a loaf of bread.
Jesus fuck, he really needed the money from Tapp to come in.
"Daaad," Diana's voice pierced through his panic and he shut the fridge door quickly.
"You ever had shark fins before D?"
"No... but I like sharks, and they need their fins dad," Diana said, and Adam winced, backtracking slightly.
"You're right, which is why I promise these are 100% ethically sourced shark fins, no sharks harmed in the process," he said, trying to keep his face as serious as possible. She squinted suspiciously at him.
"Okay... but do you promise promise?" she asked.
"I'll even throw in a pinky," he said, holding out his little finger for her to hook. She considered it a moment before doing so, shaking their clasped fingers like some elementary level business deal.
“Okay, can I watch PBS while you cook?”
“Sure,” he said, scooping her up to move her off the counter. She wandered into the living room, and he waited for the sounds of This Old House to filter into the kitchen with him. He opened the fridge again, and grabbed everything out to place it down next to the stove. He quickly went about taking the 8 slices of bread and placing the sliced cheese down, splitting the 3rd slice to cover 2 sandwiches. He pulled a pan from the cabinets from above the stove, quickly scraped off a piece of leftover burnt food, and placed it on the largest burner.
He plopped two of the sandwiches down at a time, careful to not let them get too dark. He picked them out of the pan by hand, hissing slightly. On the plate, he cut them in half diagonal, squirted ketchup along the seam, and then placed them upright.
Bon appetit. Grilled cheese Shark Fins.
“Dinner’s ready,” he called out, and watched as Diana’s head popped up from over the couch, and then the T.V went quiet. She raced over to the table and sat down next to him. She looked at the plate, then back at him.
“This is grilled cheese.”
“I told you it was ethically sourced,” he said with a shrug, and hoped that would be the end of it. It was not.
“Where’s your plate?” she asked, pulling the one plate close to her. He leaned back in his chair and patted his stomach with a faux contented sigh.
“Oh, I had a big lunch at the studio, you know models, they never eat anything so the buffet table is always full,” he joked, hoping by some miracle his stomach did not choose that moment to growl.
“I can’t imagine not eating,” Diana said solemnly, eyes wide, and then finally took a bite of her grilled cheese that was probably too big to be safe.
“Good, dieting's a scam, eating is great,” Adam said, folding his hands on the table, as he watched her devour her first slice. Diana managed to make some sort of noise of assent through all the gooey cheese in her mouth, and Adam smiled over at her, the sick feeling of dread abating somewhat.
"Who's this Dad?" Diana asked suddenly, reaching one of her grease stained fingers over the table to tap at the folder Adam had haphazardly left to sit while he’d made her dinner. Lawrence's face just peeked out from the edges of the manila. He moved it slightly away from her sticky fingers, but lifted the top photo for her to see better.
"One of my clients, he's a JCPenny model," Adam said, and Diana giggled, stuffing another piece of grilled cheese into her mouth. The photo wasn't a particularly flattering one, he'd caught the Doc mid bite into a panini, and not even someone as conventionally attractive as him could really pull that off.
"I like his hair," she said through a swallow, and Adam looked over at the photo himself. He had to nod in agreement.
"He does have nice hair doesn't he? Best feature really, I'll tell him you said so at our next shoot,” he said, placing it back in the folder, guilt squirming in his gut. It was better that she didn’t know what he got up to at work. It’s not like the photographer part was a lie… just his subjects.
Finally Diana finished off the last of the grilled cheese shark fins, and Adam stood up with a sigh.
“I’ll do the dishes, you go get ready for bed,” he said picking up her plate, and she slipped out of her chair acquiescing quickly enough he had to shout down the hall to her, “and don’t forget to brush your teeth.”
He took her plate to the sink, piled in the pan and spatula he’d used, and then plugged the sink to fill it. He watched the water rise, eyes glazed. He was debating using the food stamps cash they had on hand, but it was the start of the month, and he was sure he’d get another call from Tapp any day so-
His phone started buzzing in his pocket, and glanced back at it in surprise. He shut off the sink water, and then flipped open the phone.
“Gordon’s working late tonight,” the gruff voice over the speaker was immediately familiar, and Adam pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Hi, Tapp, what’s up?” he said, trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.
“I need you to keep an eye on him tonight,” the other man said in lieu of answering, and Adam grimaced, shutting his eyes tight, taking in a deep breath.
“Listen, I told you I need notice for late stake outs Tapp-”
“With what I’m paying you kid I’d keep the complaints to a minimum,” Tapp snapped quickly, and Adam’s anger spiked for a moment. God he should just fucking drop this asshole right now- but then his eyes caught on the empty bag of bread, the left over plastic from the slices of American cheese, and he had to grit his teeth.
“Alright, cool it, just give me the address, and I’ll head over,” he bit out, and moved quickly to his fridge to grab a scrap of paper to write on.
When Diana finally came back into the main room, she was dressed in a threadbare t-shirt of his, one of the early editions of Scott’s band merch, so old it was a good four band names behind the current. Adam was shrugging into his jacket, camera already hanging from his neck. Diana watched him quietly as she leaned against the couch. Finally he turned to her, fiddling with the straps of his camera.
“Listen, D, I have a late shoot tonight, you gonna be good for bedtime on your own?”
“Yeah,” she said, shrugging, her lips pursed, neither angry or sad, but maybe something in between. Adam pushed on, looking away as he started rattling off their night time rules.
“So you know don’t unlock the door for anyone, I’ve got a key. If there’s an emergency go next door to the Jackson’s they’ve got a landline you can use, and bed time is in an hour, so you can finish reading but-”
“Dad I know ,” she snapped, and he turned back to her, swallowing. She stood glaring at him and for a moment he was frozen. He moved forward slowly, afraid for a second she wasn’t going to let him hug her. But at the last moment, she melted into his embrace, pressing her face into his stomach.
“I’ll try to be back before 11,” he said quietly, and felt her nod against him.
“Will you come and give me a good night kiss?” she asked, softly, and Adam’s heart broke a little.
“Yeah a really big one, but you better be asleep by then okay?” he shook her a little until she smiled up at him, and he waited for her to agree.
“Okay,” she said with a small nod, and he nodded back. He pulled her in for one more quick squeeze before stepping back. He was reaching for the door when Diana stopped him.
“Dad, wait.”
“Yeah?” he turned back quickly, looking her over cautiously.
“Can I keep your jacket? To have it for bedtime?” she asked, voice small and really there was nothing to argue with there.
“Yeah, Monkey,” he said, slipping out of the jacket to hand it over to her. Not like it was that cold anyway, and he was wearing two layers. But really, he could be cold for a night for her. She hugged the fabric to her chest, and he stepped back to the door.
“I love you,” he said, turning back to her at the threshold.
“Love you more,” she replied waving at him, and he closed the door on her smiling face.
God kid.
She couldn't even know how much more he loved her than the rest of the world.
So the guy was cheating, what a fucking surprise. There wasn’t any real reason to be pissed, except that he was, and Adam had wasted a whole taxi fare just to catch the action. Maybe it was because just this once he hadn't seen it coming. Or maybe it was because this just proved Tapp's obsessive behavior right. But mostly, he was just disappointed.
Which meant he was way farther off the deep end than he thought.
He was pissed as he stepped out of the cab. Pissed as he noticed the out of order sign on the elevator. Pissed as he trudged his way up the stairs, and pissed as he fumbled his way into the apartment.
As soon as he stepped into Diana’s room though, the rest of the night washed away. Her night light bathed the room in a soft warm glow that illuminated the admittedly glaring pink of the walls (a feat in themselves for the time it had taken him to convince the landlord to approve the paint job). Diana was curled into a tight ball under her off white duvet, his jacket tucked into her arms like a teddy bear. He stepped over to her and crouched down slowly.
Pushing back soft curls he pressed a kiss to her forehead, before standing, and stepping back quietly.
He got ready for bed with as little noise as possible, unfolding the pull out gingerly, and with the feeling of exhaustion weighing heavy on him, he collapsed fully clothed, and was asleep in moments.
He startled awake suddenly at around 2 in the morning, the pull out groaning softly under him. He’d been a light sleeper ever since Diana had come into his life, so at first he assumed she’d gotten up to use the restroom. He peered out into the darkness, blinking away the sand crusted in his eyes. There was nothing to be seen, even with the moonlight seeping in through the blinds of the living room. Slowly he lowered his head back to the pillow prepared to fall asleep once more, when a creak of floor boards down the hall alerted him again.
“Diana?” he called out softly, rising up on one elbow. She did sometimes wake during his late nights to come and check if he’d made it back home. There was no response, and with a sigh he threw his legs over the side of the mattress.
He stood, trying to get his bearings. Through the dimness he thought he saw movement near the linen closet. Yawning, he shuffled forward down the hall.
“Diana, it’s late kiddo, let’s get back to bed,” he said. The door to the closet stood partly open, and still Diana did not respond.
“Diana?” he peered through the darkness at the closet, confusion clouding any potential for danger as he reached his hand toward the door handle.
In his memory, he’s not sure if he even really saw them, or if it was simply the impression of their shadow he saw come forward to grab him. Unprepared, he hit the floor hard, yelling out once before a needle was jammed into his neck.
And then there was nothing, until he awoke in a dark room submerged in water.