It's Not What it Looks Like

[Macbeth]

Macbeth sat on the steps of the library with a two-year-old girl in her lap.

It was Jo's first trip to the library, and she'd been awfully good...for a good half hour. Beth had checked out her usual stack of classics, and then they'd sat in the children's room and looked at picture books together. But now the poor kid was wailing for no apparent reason, so Macbeth had brought her outside and simply sat there rubbing her back and murmuring soothingly about the various ways in which she would like to kill her.

[Risk]

The past couple of days were a mess and Risk wanted nothing but peace and quiet. He had just gotten back from his failed attempt to be nice to Mush when he asked him and Ershey out to lunch. Needless to say, it didn't go too well. All he received from Mush were glares and one word answers.

Stepping out of the library from his nap (where else was he supposed to go for quiet?), he noticed a somewhat familiar figure on the steps. "Uh... Beth?"

[Macbeth]

At the sudden appearance of another human being, Jo let out such a loud wail that Macbeth nearly dropped her. She looked up at the offender with a ferocious glower. "Now look whatcha--" Then she saw it who it was. "What're you doing here!?" Jo's shrieks escalated, and Beth sighed and cuddled the girl against her. "Sorry, hon, I didn't mean to yell...mujhe tumse dil se pyar hai. All right?"

Jo liked Hindi. She quieted down and looked up at Risk with huge blue eyes, sucking her thumb.

[Risk]

Risk's eyes widened when he realized what Macbeth was holding.

What. The. Fuck.

"Is that -- er, yours?" said Risk hesitantly.

[Macbeth]

Beth rolled her eyes. "Yes. I gave birth to her at the age of fourteen and baked her in the sun for a few hours," she snapped, referring to the little girl's deep walnut skin. "She's my sister's. The dead one."

Jo smiled and made a grab for Risk's hand. Macbeth pulled her away. "C'mon, Jo, you don't wanna make friends with him."

[Risk]

Risk shot Macbeth a glare but softened once he saw Jo reaching for him. Ignoring Macbeth's comments, he held out his finger for the little baby, feeling quite amused that someone so tiny was so happy to see him. Then again, he had a running streak with annoying people lately...

[Macbeth]

Beth sighed wearily. "If you're gonna play with her, sit down. She'll just start screaming again if you walk away."

[Risk]

Risk looked at Beth skeptically but once Jo had a tight grip on his finger, he realized he wasn't going anywhere. Doing as he was told, he took a seat next to Macbeth.

"So how'd you end up with her? I thought you came to the lodging house by yourself."

[Macbeth]

"She stays in an orphanage out by the bridge--only good one in the city as far as I know. She's been to London and back, too. She ain't really mine, but they let me borrow her." Her voice implied that she didn't give them much of a choice.

Jo examined Risk's hand like it was a mysterious object from Mars, then pulled her thumb out of her mouth and proudly said, "Beth!"

Macbeth smiled a little, then caught herself and glanced at Risk. "You talked to Ershey yet?"

[Risk]

Risk beamed as he watched Jo, his hand gently tickling her. Upon hearing Macbeth's second comment, however, he immediately frowned.

"Uh, well, sorta..." he muttered, refusing to look at Macbeth. "I accidentally ran into her and Mush..."

[Macbeth]

She snorted. "I'll bet that went over great." Generally, she would have had a lot more sarcastic remarks; he was lucky he'd caught her with a baby, a new stack of books, and no more hangover. Besides, she'd been thinking. "How old were you when she took off, anyway?"

[Risk]

"About thirteen?" said Risk, shrugging. "It was a while ago... Adria -- er, Ershey's younger than me by two years."

[Macbeth]

Jo clearly found all this grown-up talk boring--she crawled halfway off Macbeth's lap, planting her hands on Risk's knees and looking up at him curiously. A woman approaching the library paused to give the scene a horrified look, clearly scandalized by Jo's skin color. Macbeth gave her such a frosty glare that she tripped over her skirts in her hurry to get away.

"You must've been pretty awful for thirteen," she muttered, thinking of Ershey's expression as she talked about her brother.

[Risk]

"I didn't know any better," explained Risk as he watched Jo play around. "I started hangin' out with some kids at school that weren't exactly the best role models... and I just got caught doin' anythin' and everythin' a little kid shouldn't be doin'. I wasn't exactly the nicest brother to Adri either."

[Macbeth]

Macbeth picked a leaf out of Jo's tangled black hair and stared up into the trees. "This might come as a shock, but I ain't exactly a nice person either." She picked up a book off her stack and flipped through it. "You're gonna hafta make it up to her, y'know."