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Taavi leaned harder into my leg, and I ran my fingers over his ears, my other hand tugging on the end of my ponytail.
I had no idea how long this was going to go on, no idea when or if I’d be able to go home, and no idea how it was going to end.
Everybody around my desk jumped when my desk phone rang.
The whole room stared at me again.
This time, I picked up the handset. “Hart.” I was a little impressed that I kept my voice from actively shaking.
“Tell me you aren’t thinking of going outside,” Raj’s voice demanded. “And why the fuck didn’t you answer your cell?”
“I wasn’t planning on it,” I answered his first question. I pulled my cell out of my pocket and noticed four missed calls from Raj. I’d had a meeting with Villanova that morning and must have forgotten to unmute it. “And it’s on mute.”
“Well un-fucking-mute it, Hart, goddammit. You gave me a heart attack.”
“I’m fine,” I assured him. “Villanova ordered me to stay put.”
“Good.” Raj sounded a bit less stressed now. “I’m going to come get you.”
“Now?”
“Of course not. When shit calms down. But I’m not letting you out of that building by yourself.”
I sighed. “So, what, you’re my fucking bodyguard now?”
“If I have to be.”
“They don’t like you either, you know.”
“They don’t have to like me,” came Raj’s response. “You might be a tough-ass elf, Hart, but even these jackasses aren’t stupid enough to take on a three-hundred-pound pissed-off tiger.”
A tiny part of me really hoped they tried because I was really curious about Raj’s tiger form. But that would be bad for so many reasons.
“Gee, thanks, Tony.”
“Stay inside, Keebler,” he warned me again. “I mean it. I will be taking you home.”
“I can—”
“You can’t fucking take care of yourself, Hart,” he interrupted me, and I scowled. Down by my feet, Taavi whined. “I’m walking you to your car, driving you home because you’re a stubborn asshole, and then I’m sleeping on your goddamn couch, and you can’t do a thing about it, got me?”
I sighed. “Fine.”
“Good. And turn on your fucking ringer. I’ll call you when I get there.”
I hung up on him.
And then turned on my ringer.
As annoyed as I was that Raj was getting all over-protective tiger-mom on me… I kind of liked the feeling that somebody actually cared if I lived or died.
Taavi whined again, pushing on my leg.
Okay, somebody who didn’t rely on me for food and shelter cared if I lived or died.
And then I got a little bit choked up, because I realized that it wasn’t just Raj and Taavi. Elliot, obviously. My folks. Doc and Ward. But it was also my brusque captain and the cluster of people who were currently gathered around my desk, forming a literal barrier between me and the MFM assholes outside, making the fact that they were siding with me clear to everyone else in the bullpen.
Fuck if I knew what the hell I was going to do with that.
