Work Text:
A cold, trembling hand gently shook Grace's shoulders. Her eyes fluttered open, not fully registering the sensation yet, and she shifted against her pillow and tucked an arm beneath her head. Then she heard a quiet sniffle, and she was wide awake, rubbing her eyes with a short yawn. "Emily?"
"My ear hurts," Emily managed to say between sharp puffs of breath.
Grace sat upright and stretched an arm towards the lamp on the nightstand, illuminating the room with a tap. After rubbing the remaining rheum from her eyes, she could clearly see Emily standing at the edge of the bed. She had her stuffed bear in one arm, and her other hand cradled the right side of her head. Grace swiped her phone off the nightstand to check the time—eleven at night.
"Your ear hurts?" Grace repeated, just to confirm. She was already typing out an email to Mr. Dempsy about coming into the office late. Emily always came first.
"Yes." The answer was short, but Grace could hear the discomfort in her voice. When she glanced up, Emily had her face scrunched up, the right side of her jaw tensed like it would ease the pain. Her eyes were wet with tears.
Then Grace realized that she didn't know what would ease the pain. At least, not until the morning when she could take Emily to an urgent care. She sent off the email to her boss and set her phone aside for a moment, scooting back in bed towards the headboard in order to make room for Emily. Grace scooped the girl up beneath her armpits and pulled her on the bed into her lap.
"When– Um, when did it start hurting?" Grace asked, figuring it'd be best to start there.
Emily leaned into Grace's chest, her bear wedged between the two of them, and shrugged. "I'm not sure. It woke me up."
"Oh, right…" Grace cleared her throat and worked out her next question. In the meantime, she wrapped an arm around Emily and slowly rocked side to side. "Can you desc– Can you tell me what it feels like?"
A strangled sound left Emily, and her hand shot up once again to cover her right ear. Grace ceased rocking for a moment and instead stroked Emily's hair gently. When the wave of pain seemingly subsided, Emily finally mumbled, "It feels like… Like something's in my ear. Something sharp."
Well, that didn't sound good. Grace had a split-second 'I need my mom' thought before she scrubbed it from her mind. She could figure this out. She scratched soothingly at Emily's scalp and picked her phone back up, searching Emily's symptoms online for answers. The pain came and went in sharp waves for Emily, who winced now and again.
"Sounds like you might have an ear infection," Grace explained after perusing a few sites. She would definitely be taking Emily to the urgent care, but for now, Grace would try to make her comfortable with home remedies.
Grace kissed Emily on the head and, at first, planned to leave Emily in her bed in order to scrounge through the medicine cabinet, but then Emily gripped Grace's shirt tightly, and Grace elected to carry Emily along with her. Bear in hand and slotted against Grace's hip, Emily buried her face in Grace's neck as she walked to the bathroom.
Grace opened the medicine cabinet above the sink, twisting bottles around to check the labels. "Hm… That's got aspirin… That's– No, um…" Grace muttered to herself, trailing off and ready to admit defeat, but then she remembered the bottle of ibuprofen in her work bag. "Oh, hang on."
Grace walked back into her room, stopping near her desk to rummage through her bag that she left hanging on the chair's arm. She withdrew a small bottle of ibuprofen and checked the label; a 200mg tablet should be fine for Emily to take, but she would double-check online just in case. Better safe than sorry.
Grace brought Emily and the bottle out to the kitchen, the darkness temporary until the motion sensor triggered the lights to come on. That was something Grace had had installed after coming home from Raccoon City, at least for the main rooms. It offered her a bit of comfort, and it meant Emily wouldn't risk hurting herself by dragging a chair to reach the light switch above the counter.
Grace set Emily down in one of the chairs at the dining table and stepped away long enough to fill a glass with water from the filter in the fridge. She set the glass down in front of Emily, and then she opened the cap to the ibuprofen, shaking out one tablet. She paused before handing it to Emily.
"Do you– Have you swallowed a pill before, Emily?"
She hugged her bear and nodded, eyes shifting away from the medicine. "Yes, but I don't like them. The doctors used to give me a cup full of them."
"I don't like swallowing pills either," Grace empathized, and then she placed the ibuprofen beside the glass of water. "But this will make you feel better, I promise. This is a small pill, and it's only one."
"It's going to get stuck in my throat," she complained. Her resistance lasted all of thirty seconds before another sharp pain hit her ear, and then she slid the pill over to investigate it. She placed it in one palm and turned it over gently, and Grace could see her working up the courage.
"You've got this, Emily," Grace said, and then she reached for the glass of water. "To make it easier, place it on the center of your tongue, then take a sip of water, and tilt your head down before swallowing. Like this."
Grace demonstrated the movement, looking down at her lap before swallowing the sip of water. She smiled at Emily and passed the glass back to her. Emily mimicked Grace carefully and looked down at her bear as she swallowed, taking another sip just to be sure that it had gone down.
"Did it get stuck at all?"
Emily swallowed a few more times as if to check, and then jerked her ear down to her shoulder and winced. "Ow– Um, no," she said quietly as she tugged at her earlobe. "But it still hurts."
"I know, sweet girl." Grace encouraged Emily to finish off the few sips of water remaining in the glass, taking it to the sink to be washed later in the morning. She returned to Emily and extended her arms, collecting her and pressing a kiss to her forehead. "The medicine will start helping soon. Do you want to watch cartoons until then?"
Emily offered a weak nod, and Grace could tell that she wasn't convinced the ibuprofen would somehow help. Still, Grace was determined to distract her from the pain at the very least. They headed back to Grace's room, and Grace adjusted Emily in her lap as she got comfortable in bed. She palmed through the bed sheets for the TV remote, eventually finding it wedged beneath the pillows, and turned the TV on.
They cycled through the streaming services Grace paid for and settled on a show about a family of bears; Emily seemed particularly fond of it, and Grace enjoyed the soft colors that were easy on the eyes. Occasionally, Emily would stir from another shooting pain, but after one full episode, the pain either dissipated or became tolerable enough for her to ignore.
Grace watched another episode before realizing that Emily had fallen asleep, her face smushed against Grace's side. She checked her phone again—now a little after midnight—and quickly searched for nearby urgent care clinics. Thankfully, there was one only fifteen minutes away from the house. They all accepted walk-ins, but Grace still made an appointment to avoid the anxiety that came with explaining things to a doctor.
In the 'concerns' box, Grace typed 'pain in right ear, possible infection' and hoped that it was enough information to be in and out in the morning. If everything went well, Grace would be able to head into the office for a few hours and hopefully avoid any flak from Mr. Dempsy. With the appointment made and Emily sleeping soundly against her, Grace lowered the TV's volume and pulled the comforter over the both of them, allowing herself to drift off until the morning.
"Alright, Ms. Ashcroft… My notes here say Emily's here for… ear pain, is that correct?" The doctor asked. She sat down on a small rolling stool, one leg bouncing idly.
Grace nodded. "Uh, yes, ma'am. She– It woke her up last night, so um… I think it started a little after bedtime…?"
"And has Emily recently gone swimming or otherwise submerged her head in water?"
"No, ma'am."
The doctor noted something on her clipboard before grabbing an instrument with a funneled tip and rolling over to Emily with a smile. "Mind if I take a peek in those ears, hon?"
Emily blinked a few times at the device, which admittedly was a little daunting even to Grace, and shrugged. "Sure."
The doctor quickly checked Emily's left ear, humming her approval there, and then checked her right ear, making an odd 'mhm' sound. Grace opened her mouth to ask, but the doctor had already pulled back to jot more down on her clipboard. "You were right about the ear infection, Ms. Ashcroft. On the bright side, I don't see any significant wax buildup. There is some inflammation of the ear drum and the fluid looks a bit cloudy."
"Uh, sorry I'm not– So what does that mean, exactly?" Grace asked. She was more interested in a solution for Emily.
"It's a fairly mild infection. I'm not seeing any blood or pus; it's likely viral, so it should resolve on its own. The nurse noted that you've been giving her ibuprofen… That's good, keep managing any pain with that—just don't exceed the dosage for a 24-hour period."
"Okay, that's great," Grace said, her voice hopeful. She looked over to Emily and shot her eyebrows up with a smile. "Is there, um, anything else I should know?"
"Warm compresses may provide relief," the doctor continued while finishing off whatever she was writing down. She clicked her pen closed and tapped it against the papers. "Keep her ears dry. If she takes showers, I recommend switching to baths and washing her hair in the sink to avoid water getting in the ear canal."
Grace listened to her every word, nodding slowly and finally standing when the doctor did. Grace shook her hand, head bowed in a mix of nervousness and gratitude. "Thank you so much. Let's go, Emily."
When Grace and Emily arrived back home, the babysitter was already in the driveway, and Grace muttered, "Shit," under her breath. She had forgotten to tell the poor woman that she was taking Emily to be seen.
Grace unbuckled Emily and lifted her out of the seat, gently placing her on the ground before heading over to the babysitter's car. The woman looked over with a smile and rolled down her window. "Oh, Grace, good to see you. I was worried something had happened"
"No, uh– Well, I—" Grace stopped herself before she could stumble over the words further, inhaling before trying again, "I'm so sorry I didn't text you. Emily woke up last night with an ear ache. The, uh, the doctor said it's an infection—should go away on its own. I'll, um, I'll pay you extra for having to wait."
"Nonsense," she said as she killed her car's engine and stepped out, smoothing her blouse down. "I'm glad it was nothing more than that. Just fill me in on whatever needs to be filled in, and I'll take care of it."
Grace would definitely still be paying the woman extra, just out of kindness, but she appreciated being cut some slack immensely. She'd already be hearing an earful at work, especially with the mountain's worth of documents she had waiting for her. Grace explained that she left the ibuprofen in the kitchen cupboard and how often to give it to Emily, also adding the doctor's suggestion of warm compresses if the ibuprofen didn't remedy the pain.
Before leaving for work, Grace crouched to Emily's level and took the girl's hands in her own, rubbing the soft skin there before kissing them. "I'll be home by 5pm, okay? Be good, and I'll bring you home some ice cream."
"Strawberry?" Emily asked.
"Yep, if that's what you want," Grace said, and when Emily nodded, she laughed and continued, "Alright, I love you, Emily. I'll be back before you know it."
Emily wrapped Grace in a tight hug. "I love you, Grace."
The ear infection that was supposed to get better admittedly did improve suddenly after 48 hours of ibuprofen and intermittent tears. Though, that only lasted for a day and half of a night before Emily was waking up wailing in agony. The ibuprofen no longer worked, nor did the warm compresses. Emily became inconsolable, and all Grace could do was lie in bed with her.
Grace initially thought that this was a 'it gets worse before it gets better' situation, but after staying up all night with a crying Emily and subsequently calling out of work, she wasn't certain anymore. Two call-ins turned into Grace taking a week off; it didn't seem right to leave Emily's side, nor did it seem fair to leave her babysitter with a screaming child.
The pain was too severe for Emily to articulate what she was experiencing, and after two nights of both of them getting less than 4 hours of sleep, Grace had scheduled another appointment at the same urgent care clinic. An exhausted Grace sat in the waiting room with Emily, the girl's face buried into Grace's shirt to muffle her pained sobs while Grace rubbed circles against her back.
Several other parents in the waiting room offered Grace sympathetic looks, and Grace could only smile weakly back at them. What felt like forever was really only 20 minutes, and soon the nurse called Grace and Emily into the back. As they walked, Grace explained the initial visit, and then what had grown worse over the course of a few days. The nurse offered Emily a lollipop to calm her, but she didn't want it, instead grabbing Grace's shirt tighter.
When the doctor came in, he was equally as concerned as Grace. He glossed over Emily's paperwork for the important details, and then got busy checking in her ear. The sound he made wasn't very promising, and then he leaned back to say, "Looks like Emily has a very small perforation in her eardrum, no bigger than a pinhole. I know she has been crying, so I imagine she's been blowing her nose?"
"Um, yes," Grace said, and then she cleared her throat. "Is that– Was she not supposed to?"
"Oh, no, no. Gentle blowing is great at clearing mucus out. However, combined with the infection and inflammation of her eardrum, the pressure could have caused the perforation."
"How– What can we do to fix it?"
"Given that the infection has not resolved on its own, we can safely assume now that its bacterial. I'll prescribe an antibiotic for the infection, but as for the perforation, it will take a few weeks to heal on its own. Continue with keeping her ears dry, but for the next few weeks, I would avoid excessive nose clearing and stay away from nasal irrigation entirely."
Grace nodded, asked necessary questions for clarity, and left the office with Emily feeling like she was experiencing déjà vu. She wanted to believe they'd start seeing some improvement, but after the last visit and now this, Grace could no longer be sure. Emily was still emotional and in pain, cupping both ears to shut out any sound, and Grace kept the radio off in the car to offer her a reprieve.
She stopped at the pharmacy on the way home to pick up Emily's antibiotics, and once they were home, Grace read the pamphlet before giving Emily her first dose. She hated the taste of the amoxicillin, and it didn't touch her pain, but Grace promised her that it would make her feel better in a couple days. They were both skeptical about that though.
Although it no longer seemed to help, Grace still gave Emily a dose of ibuprofen before setting up the couch for them to watch TV. It was meant to calm Emily, but she still sobbed uncontrollably for the rest of the day, her tears mixing with her dinner later that night. Swallowing caused her pain, chewing caused her pain, and even crying caused her pain, but she simply couldn't stop the latter.
That night, Grace prepared herself for yet another night of no sleep as she settled into bed with Emily. She listened to her cry while occasionally checking the clock, hoping that eventually she'd tire herself out and sleep through some of the pain. That never happened though, and soon it was two in the morning, and Emily was nowhere near out of momentum. Something shifted in Grace, a combination of both her exhaustion and her guilt for not being able to do more for Emily.
She grabbed her phone from the nightstand, barely able to see the screen through her heavy eyelids, and hoped that she had tapped Leon's contact as she pressed the phone against her ear. It rang once, twice, then a split-second of a third before Leon picked up. The first thing he heard was Emily sobbing.
"What happened?" He asked, voice thick with sleep. Grace felt awful for interrupting his sleep, too. "Grace?"
"Um, Emily has a, uh, an ear infection and it– Her eardrum is perforated. She's– It's– We've been like this for days now, and I– She can't stop crying. I haven't slept, and I'm really sorry for—"
"Hey," Leon interrupted. Grace heard rustling over the phone and the clatter of a belt buckle. "Slow down. I'm getting dressed now. Walk me through what happened."
"She woke up a few nights ago, said her ear was hurting, so I took her to a clinic. They said she had an ear infection, but that it should heal on its own. But, um… I guess that was for if it was a viral infection."
Dead air for just a moment, and then Leon returned. "Sorry, I'm listening, Grace. Just had to find my keys. So, it wasn't a viral infection then?"
"Uh, no. It got worse. At first she was just crying, but now it's– I mean, you can hear her. She's almost screaming. I took her back to the clinic, and they said her eardrum was perforated, like… A small hole. Then they sent an antibiotic to the pharmacy, so I picked that up."
"Sounds like you're doing a good job. Ear aches are excruciating—trust me, I've had my fair share of ruptured eardrums. I'm leaving now, should be there in about 25-30 minutes. Hang in there, Grace."
"Thanks, Leon. Drive safe," Grace said, only sighing after he had hung up.
She set her phone back on the nightstand to focus her attention on Emily. One hand patted her on the back between the shoulders, and the other hand raked fingers through her hair. Neither seemed to distract her from the pain, but it was all Grace could do to comfort her. Emily's poor bear had been in a vice grip for the past few days—a real trooper, and the unsung hero of it all.
Leon arrived a bit earlier than he had estimated, and Grace elected to not question if he obeyed the speed limit, knowing the answer was likely that he hadn't. She carried Emily to the front door to unlock it when Leon showed up on the door bell camera, and when he stepped inside, he took off his coat and hung it over the back of the couch before extending his arms towards Grace.
"Are you sure?" She asked.
Leon tilted his head as he looked at her. "Grace, you need to sleep. Being exhausted won't do you any good, and it definitely won't do Emily any good."
"You're right," Grace relented, kissing Emily on the crown of her head before handing her over to Leon. She watched Emily look confused for all of five seconds before she buried her face in Leon's shoulder, gripping him just as tight. Leon appeared to have underestimated Emily's strength, wincing at her nails digging into him. "I'm– I'll head to bed now, just… Wake me up if you need me, or when you need to leave. Thanks again, Leon."
"Not a problem, kid," Leon said as he wrangled Emily's fingers to a more comfortable position. "Get some sleep. We'll be out here."
Leon nodded one last time at Grace as she shut the door of her bedroom, and then he adjusted Emily on his hip and walked her to the couch, sitting down and swinging her legs over his lap. There wasn't much that he could do for her but be there, so he patted her back rhythmically and started talking about nothing in particular.
"First time I ruptured my eardrum was after becoming a cop. After the whole Raccoon City incident," Leon spoke softly, "Let's see… A big explosive device went off a few meters away from me—I had just a few seconds to dive behind a crumbling brick wall—and next thing I know, I can't hear out of one ear."
Emily continued crying, but her death grip on Leon's shirt softened just a hair. That was enough for Leon to carry on. "So, I'm stumbling through what used to be someone's neighborhood, off-balance and dazed, and with this awful ringing in my ears. Went through the whole rest of that mission miserable as hell, half-deaf, and covered in bruises."
Emily sucked in a shaky breath and broke up the mucus in her throat with a cough. That was the first time she managed more than a sob. Leon smiled and ruffled her hair.
"When it was all said and done, the doctor in the infirmary told me I had a hole in my eardrum—more hole than eardrum, actually. Had to have surgery to fix it," Leon explained. "Can't quite remember what they did, but I was off duty for a few months. Lost a bit of hearing in that ear, too."
"Did it hurt really bad?" Emily asked, voice hoarse and strained by her sobs.
Leon inhaled just to sigh. "Yeah, it hurt pretty bad. A sharp, shooting pain right into my head."
"Did you cry?"
Leon never thought he'd admit it, but… "I did," he said truthfully, "The pain was so bad before surgery that it was all I could do."
Emily didn't judge him for that; of course she didn't. She was only searching for someone who understood. She sniffled and looked up at Leon. "And you're better now?"
"I am. It took a while, but I feel a lot better. You will, too. It just takes time," Leon explained.
The sigh that came from Emily was heavier than it should have been for a nine-year-old, but Leon felt it deep in his soul. He meant it when he said ear aches were excruciating, only second to tooth aches, really. Even the bones he had broken hurt less. The story didn't get rid of her pain, but it did appear to help Emily understand that the pain truly was temporary. It also helped that the ibuprofen was working, if only a little.
Leon continued his rambling, moving on to different stories such as his less traumatizing missions and eventually just talking about his coworkers in the DSO. He couldn't be sure if Emily was listening, or whether she cared or not, but she had her ear pressed firmly against his chest. Maybe the vibrations were more soothing than the words themselves. Leon tired himself out more than Emily. He really was getting old.
Grace slept for a blissful seven hours before accidentally waking herself up with her alarms. She slid a finger over her phone screen as she sat upright in bed, and then stretched the tension out of her muscles. The first thing that registered was the silence in the house. A good sign, she hoped.
She stumbled to the bathroom for a few minutes to take care of her teeth and hair, coming out feeling much better than she did last night. She changed from her pajamas to day clothes and slipped quietly out of her bedroom, pausing in the hallway when she saw Leon and Emily on the couch.
They were both fast asleep, Emily curled against Leon's side, and Leon sprawled on the couch with his head tilted back, snoring faintly. She would maybe laugh at him, if the sight weren't such a miracle. Grace wasn't certain when they had fallen asleep, so she crept over to the kitchen to start breakfast.
Sorting through the pots and pans quietly proved to be a challenge, or a sign that she needed to reorganize the cabinet, but she successfully found the pan she was searching for without waking Leon and Emily. The second challenge, once the pan had heated over the stove, was cracking eggs quietly. She tapped the egg once against the side of the pan, checked behind her shoulder, and then tapped it a second time, this time harder, and sighed with relief when neither of them stirred.
In the end, it was the scent of eggs and freshly cracked black pepper that ended up rousing Leon. Grace wasn't sure how he had managed it, but he somehow separated himself from Emily and tucked her in with a throw blanket from the back of the couch before appearing alongside Grace at the counter.
"How did you sleep?"
Grace appreciated the concern. "I slept good, really good. Thank you, Leon. Did she keep you up for long?"
Leon folded his arms against his chest and shrugged. "Nah, I just talked her ear off until she fell asleep. I imagine she'll be waking up soon, though."
"Yeah, um, hang on." Grace stepped away from the stove for a few seconds to open one of the cabinets. She pulled down two glasses and the bottle of ibuprofen. She handed them to Leon. "Here– Uh, for you to get some water. The medicine is for Emily, when she wakes up. Just set it on the counter for me, please."
"You got it," Leon said, doing just that. He filled both glasses with water, sliding one over the counter near the ibuprofen and bringing the other to his lips to chug. His rambling last night left him needing to wet his whistle, but he didn't dare disturb Emily.
Emily herself didn't wake up until breakfast was ready, and Grace had finished plating everything just in time for her to pop up from the couch, looking around with bleary eyes. "Grace?"
"Yes, Emily?" Grace called from the dining table, setting one last fork down before rounding the table into the living room.
Emily was searching the couch for something, shifting the blanket around and looking between the cushions. She found it when she turned around, and Grace realized that Leon committed the crime of not placing Emily's stuffed bear in her arms. That was an error on her part for not telling him.
Emily dusted her bear off and turned back to Grace. "Can I have my medicine now?"
"Yes. Come on, sweet girl. I made breakfast. You can take your medicine and then eat."
Grace walked Emily over to the dining table and pulled out her chair for her, scooting it in once she was seated. Leon had already taken her antibiotic out of the fridge and had the dose ready in the syringe, which Grace was incredibly thankful for. Getting the ibuprofen down had become a smooth process, and Emily was more willing to endure the gross taste of the amoxicillin today.
"How's that ear feeling, kid?" Leon asked as he cut up a slice of toast.
"Um… It still hurts," Emily said while pushing around the scrambled eggs on her plate. Before taking a bite, she added, "But it doesn't feel like something is in there anymore."
Grace studied Emily for a moment while she chewed her own food, checking for any signs of distress. Emily tugged on her earlobe once, but it wasn't as aggressive as it had been the past few days. Grace's shoulders relaxed. "That's an improvement, right? Once you've finished your antibiotic, you've got an appointment with your regular doctor. She'll check to make sure everything's looking okay."
"Does she offer cool bandages?" Leon asked.
Grace would have rolled her eyes, but the grin etched on Emily's face was priceless; she perked up immediately and nodded. "Yeah, she even has ones with dinosaurs. I can get you one."
"What colors?"
"Um… Green and blue. I think."
"I'll take blue," Leon said after careful consideration.
Emily rocked back and forth in her chair, and then she stopped at once, a puzzled look spreading across her face. "Leon?"
"Yeah?"
"What were dinosaurs like?"
Grace's eyes widened, first looking to Emily, who had her head tilted with genuine curiosity, and then she looked to Leon, who sat hunched over with his fork half-way to his mouth, egg and toast speared on the tines. A bit of yolk dribbled below onto his plate.
"Um, Emily…" Grace started to say, but then Leon put a hand up and set his fork down.
"Fearsome, most of them. They had big, pearly teeth and reached impressive sizes. Some of the biggest only ate leaves, thankfully. Even the smallest ones could be dangerous."
"Wow," she drawled, eyes scanning the table as she processed the information. Then she looked back up and asked, "How did you survive?"
Leon sucked in a deep breath and tilted his head. "You know, kid? I'm not sure. It took a lot of skill, I'll tell you that."
"Um, who– Who wants more orange juice?" Grace choked out the question quickly as she rose from her chair. She covered her mouth on the way to the fridge, mere seconds away from bursting into laughter.
"The doctor said everything is healing up good," Grace explained over the phone, tapping her pen against her desk. "The infection is gone, and the perforation should be completely healed in another two weeks. She has a follow-up appointment around then."
"Good, that's great," Leon said, "I knew she'd pull through. She handled it better than most would have."
"Yeah, she um– She got that bandage for you, by the way. Sorry about… Uh, that– the dinosaur thing."
"Don't sweat it. You know, after all the shit I've been through, growing old isn't so bad—" Leon interrupted himself with a warm laugh, but then he cleared his throat and sighed. "A lot of people don't get that luxury."
Grace instantly thought of her mother, eyes cast down to the floor. She swallowed back the emotions that came with it. "You're right. I'm, uh, glad you're safe, Leon. I'm not sure what I'd do without your support."
"You'd have been fine, kid. Exhausted as hell and a little stir-crazy, but… fine. Still, it does feel great to not be terminally infected. You saved my ass, the least I can do is let you sleep a bit."
Grace hummed appreciatively; it was all she could do when words weren't sufficient. She peered over her desktop to check the clock hung up on the wall. Back to work. "Well, I'll let you go, Leon. I have to get back to it. Um… I'll keep you updated on Emily, and maybe I could host dinner one of these days—you know, bring the family. I, uh… I'm still practicing the whole cooking thing, but… It's coming along. I think."
"As long as it isn't poisoned, I consider it a good meal," Leon joked. "I'll talk with the missus and get back to you on that. Give Emily a hug for me."
"Will do. Talk soon, Leon."