Quaranteam - Book Two (Ch. 03)

"I think I want to hear what you're thinking before I say anything, Piper."

She offered him a bitter grin, rolling her eyes a little bit. "That's diplomatic of you."

"Whatever you want to do, Piper, I'm going to back you on," Andy said. "I've got some thoughts and feelings of my own on the matter, but I didn't go through what you went through over at Covington's house, and no matter how much detail you relay the story to me with, that's not going to change. I can understand what you went through without really getting it, you know?"

"Right. Right right. I hear what you're saying, Andy, and if this were Hope, this would be an easy decision, but what I told you earlier was completely true - Melody mostly just enabled through inaction rather than doing anything directly harmful to me. And yeah, that fucking sucks and I'm fucking mad as hell about it, but mad enough to condemn someone to death? I mean, fuck me."

"She might be bluffing," Andy suggested, even though he very much didn't feel like that was the case.

"Look at her face, Andy," Piper said, gesturing to the frozen image of Melody on the television across the room. "That's not a woman who's bluffing. That's the face of a woman who's nearly given up and is looking for someone to throw her a lifeline, who needs someone to give her a hand and pull her out of the mess that she's found herself in. That's not a bluff, that's a... that's a... that's a fucking cry for help if ever I've seen one."

"It doesn't have to be you that helps her, though, Piper."

She turned to look at him with a kind smile. "Did you back down when Niko asked you to save Charlotte and Asha? No. You rolled up your sleeves and got the job done, and saved me, Emily and Sarah in the process. Oh! And Hannah! Indirectly. That's six lives you helped with one crazy action!"

"And if I'd lost, I could've committed Sheridan to a life of horror, Piper," Andy said. "Let's not forget about that, okay?"

"Sometimes risks have to be taken, Andy. That's all I'm saying. There's a reason you came to me on this first, isn't there? You wanted to see if I was going to just straight out say no, because you want to help her, don't you?"

Andy sighed, looking away from Piper and down at his hands. "I want to help everybody. It's one of my major failings, I know."

She reached over and nudged her fingertip along the underside of his chin, nestled somewhere in his goatee, lifting his face up to make him look at her. "It's not a failing, Andy. It's one of the things we all love about you. One of the things we love most actually. You're more optimistic than anyone any of us have ever met. You're our own personal Don Quixote, jousting at windmills and sometimes, just sometimes, taking the windmills down."

"Damn things had it coming," he chuckled with a laugh as she leaned in and kissed him affectionately, her other hand sliding across his smooth head.

"Damn straight they did. Anyway, I want to live up to that expectation. I want to follow your example and to look for the best in people, even if I don't entirely trust her." She glanced back at the screen and chuckled. "Besides, she's pretty hot, don't you think?"

"I think I have hot women all fucking over me, Piper," Andy laughed. "But you're right, if it was just up to me, I'd give her a second chance, because that's who I am. But it's not up to me. Not this one. No, this is your personal call to make."

"You think I can't handle having her around?"

"I think you're going to have to find a way past seeing her as Covington's bodyguard, and that's going to be a hell of a challenge after what she helped put you through."

"Helped put me through. 'Helped' doing all the heavy lifting in that sentence. You saw her video. She's willing to do anything to get her second chance."

Andy laughed softly, raising a hand. "Okay, here's where I lay down at least a little bit of the law, in saying I won't have you marching her around naked like Lauren did with Taylor for the better part of a month. If you want to punish her, sure, I get that, but we're going to have to find a way to do that which doesn't involve hiding somebody every time we have friends over at the house."

Piper giggled mischievously. "Oh, I can get way more creative than that. But I mostly just want to make sure she's going to be dedicated to the house, not just to me or to you, but to the whole family. Especially if we're going to eventually be trusting her with a bodyguard role in your life."

"So, what are you thinking?"

"I'm going to have to think about it, but I think we should do it if you do," she told him.

"I said right at the start I was going to bow to whatever decision you made."

Piper shook her head, taking his hands in hers. "Nuh uh. This is a decision we make together, Andy. I appreciate you wanting to put me first in all this, what with my history with Melody and everything, but you can't just bow out of a decision this big. It's got to be something we're in alignment on."

"Then yes Piper, I agree and think we should give her a second chance. If you and the rest of the girls want to haze her a bit, I get that, but it's also going to be important that you all make her feel like part of the family. That's going to be a lot on me as well, making sure it's clear from the very moment she arrives that we're nothing like that fucker."

"Well, not the very moment," Piper chuckled. "She'll be unconscious for like most of the first day, getting reimprinted. Speaking of which, how soon do they want you to do this?"

"The sooner the better," he told her. "I got the distinct impression that if I told them we were okay with it this afternoon, they'd have her in front of me either tonight or tomorrow morning."

"You've got to meet with Mali this afternoon. I think the plane's scheduled to be landing around one or so, and she was very specific about how she wanted her first time to go, and how quickly she wanted it to be. If you can agree to those kinds of strange circumstances, then I don't know how getting Melody taken care of soon would be any weirder."

"I'm going to want to get the signoff of all the rest of the fiancées first before we agree to it."

"If I'm okay with it and you're okay with it, baby, then they're going to be okay with it. Sure, there'll be some griping and bitching and moaning, but the fact that I'm willing to go along with it should be enough to get everybody else to relax about the whole thing."

"Lexi's not going to trust her with a gun for a while, I'd bet."

"I mean, that's fair. We want to make sure this chick understands it's family first before we arm her up, even if harming you would be the stupidest possible thing she could do." Piper pointed at the screen. "But look at her. That's not the face of a woman who wants to harm you or me. That's a woman looking for someone to throw her a lifeline. She wants help, Andy. We gotta help her."

"How does it feel to know you're basically responsible for the NDR?" he asked Piper as she rolled her eyes a little bit.

"On one hand, I'm glad to have encouraged them to stand up for themselves and not get walked over by that asshole, but on the other, chopping Covington's hand off?"

"A bridge too far?"

"No, I just kind of wish I'd have been the one who got to do it," Piper said, and based on her tone, Andy couldn't tell if she was joking or not. "You going to be okay reimprinting someone to you? I know you said you're okay with it, but are you okay with it?"

"Hell, if anyone's prepared for the experience, it's pretty much me," he laughed. "When you were first imprinted, you were basically in a similar state to what Dr. Merriweather was when we saw the demonstration of the reimprinting process."

"Who else knows about Melody's request?"

"Here at the house? Just you, me and Niko. They told us at the base yesterday."

"Were they pushing Melody, or just that we take on somebody?"

"Just that we take on somebody. They told us about Melody's request, but they didn't seem to give a shit if it was her or if it was somebody else instead, just that we got it done and got it done quickly and quietly."

"Instead of adding one more to the house before closing it off, it's just going to be two, and we'll manage. It's not like we don't have room for them here at the house."

"Not that I'm going to be imprinting either of them at the house," he said with a touch of amused annoyance.

"Let's go over it with everyone at breakfast, just to make sure nobody's going to throw too much of a shitfit, but after that, call the General and tell them you'll take Melody this evening, but that they need to let me be there at the reimprinting."

"She won't be thinking too clearly, Piper, so if you don't want to be there, you don't have to."

"Oh, I want to be there. I want to look into Melody's eyes and make sure she understands this is her last chance, and that if she fucks up, it's game over. And that she better not once disrespect my man, otherwise we'll beat her with soap bars wrapped in towels while she's sleeping."

"Maybe lead with the kindness and not with the threats."

"One hand open and extended in welcome, the other balled up in a fist in case I gotta beat some ass."

Andy rolled his eyes, pulling Piper over to slide into his lap. "She's an ex-Army Ranger. You know that, right? She can probably kill you with your volleyball without too much effort."

"Just gotta make sure she knows who she's fucking with," Piper purred as she started to lock lips with Andy. "Thanks for coming to me first. I'm glad you trusted me with it."

"I'm marrying you next month, Piper," he chuckled. "I trust you with my everything."

"Think anyone else is up yet?"

"You aren't suggesting..."

"I think just about all my fellow wives-to-be have had a go at you in this office, so now it's my turn," she said, reaching her arm over Andy's shoulder to shove the door closed quietly. "Get to it."

"Yes ma'am."