Tonia reached over to squeeze her hand. “We were meant.”
“Yeah, we were. They’d never have left a helpless baby behind, but they did more. Mom did so much more. She made me hers, and not only kept me alive, but loved me. She gave me a life, and I was meant to use it to save others. We’re all here for that.”
Hannah picked up the bottle, poured another round for all. “And tonight? We—stealthily—kicked ass.”
“She talks a lot when she’s drinking,” Tonia pointed out.
“I’ve noticed that.”
“I really do. But, crap, did you see all that stuff? In the office, in the—what is it—Residence? Who the fucking fuck are they, living like princes while people, so many people, still struggle to feed their children?”
“And Mouthy Hannah throws the F word around, liberally.”
“Well, fuck them!”
“Oh, we will,” Fallon assured her, enjoying Mouthy Hannah.
“Good. Do you think there’s any pizza? We could have some pizza and talk about men.”
“Like how Justin makes non-flying puppy eyes at you.”
Hannah gave her sister a cool stare. “He’s still a boy. I said men. Not like Garrett, who still makes those puppy eyes at you, but more like Roland, who I clearly saw you making out with a few nights ago.”
“Forget Roland. He’s a sloppy kisser. I just don’t go for the sloppy kisser. We could talk about all the guys who make the puppy eyes at Fallon.”
“Me?” The grin that had started while listening to the sisters turned into shock. “What?”
“I could name half a dozen who’d slurp you up like Fred’s rainbow ice cream.”
“That’s ridiculous, and I don’t have time for that anyway.” But now she wondered. “We’ve got pizza.” She rose, grabbed the bottle to go with it. “We’ll go up and eat—we earned it.”
She paused at the base of the stairs. “Maybe you should make me a list of those guys.”
Tonia laughed, slung an arm around Fallon’s shoulders. “It’ll be a long one.”
BATTLE AND BLOOD
The brazen throat of war.
—John Milton
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Fallon had expected to take some heat from her parents over her mission to D.C. She hadn’t expected to feel that heat scorch over her from all directions.
“You could’ve gotten caught, or worse. We wouldn’t have known where you were, or what happened.”
“I didn’t,” Fallon pointed out to her mother. “I took precautions.”
“One precaution,” Simon tossed back, “was not telling us.”
She’d hoped to appeal to him as a soldier, but he was, currently, all Dad. “It needed to be done. I was prepared. I was careful.”
“So careful you ended up pulling Tonia and Hannah in with you.”
Maybe her mother had her there, but—“They walked in on it. I adjusted. The intel we’ll gain from this is invaluable.”
“So are you. Not just to me and your father. To everyone.”
How was it, she wondered, her parents could wipe away years, training, freaking destiny, and make her feel like an eight-year-old in dire need of a lecture?
“I did what I knew had to be done, to take D.C. and minimize our casualties. I’m going to do other things that worry and upset you. You need to trust me.”
“Two-way street, Fallon. You did what you felt you had to do, but you didn’t trust us.” Simon kept his gaze steady on his daughter, laid a hand on his wife’s shoulder. A united front. “We don’t deserve that.”
That was bad enough, but she had to suffer through the same reaction from nearly every New Hope Original, from Fred’s sad eyes, to Arlys’s cool insult, Katie’s—okay, justified—anger at having her two daughters involved without her knowledge.
Even, crushingly, from Chuck.
“You know a sure way to demoralize and damage an opposing force? Any video game proves it—and, well, history. You take out the head, the leader. You risked that, kid.”
“Jesus, not you, too. My parents are down on me, I’m still raw from a Will lecture. I figured you, at least, would be on my side.”
“Everybody’s on your side. You oughta remember that next time.” He looked at her, the geek with purple-streaked white-blond hair and a tiny, pointed beard, and made her realize not just parents could make you feel eight and stupid.
And flipped her last button.
“You know, I’ve had enough of this crap.” She threw out her hands where the spurt of temper had light snapping from her fingertips. “I didn’t bring on the Doom, I didn’t ask to be the freaking Savior of the world or spend my life fighting, but that’s the goddamn reality. That’s the freaking, fucking world. So when I pull off a high-risk, high-reward