A New Family

Chapter 10: Redemption

"Your kitchen is lovely, girls." Marie noticed, fascinated by the purple-like amethyst mosaics that the walls were made out of, looking really nice along with the yellow floor. Just another one of the many glamorous things of that mansion.
"I'm glad you like it. I used to have something like this...back at Octo Canyon, and I liked it so much that I wanted it to be part of this house as well. It wasn't hard to convince Pearlie to do it, to be honest." Marina explained as Pearl shook her head smiling.

And so the discussion, beginning from there, went on, with the 4 idols sharing their thoughts on trends, fashion, and furniture. Agent 4 quickly lost interest in their discussion, as she had never been interested in any of those things. It was "adult stuff" to her, something she never bothered even paying attention to. She wasn't the kind of girl to follow trends, especially since whatever she'd first put her hands on in the morning would be her outfit for the rest of the day. She cared more about what people thought of her as a person, and not looks.

The agent looked to the other people that weren't taking part in the conversation: Cuttlefish had fallen asleep just a few minutes prior, on the 3 slices he had yet to finish, and Eight...well, Eight had her earphones on and was listening to music. Or Sheldon's weapon podcast. She liked both equally. How she could even bear Sheldon's blabbering was beyond her understanding.

All of a sudden, a noise interrupted the talk that was going on, while also catching Four's attention. A door knock. Which weirded everyone considerably. Who could it possibly be?

"Did the pizza guy forget to bring us something?" Callie asked, while scratching the back of her head.
"No, I do not think so. Everything we ordered is here." Marina answered.
"Ugh, if it is him, i hope he's not here for a tip...sheesh." Pearl joined in, groaning at the thought. 
"Alright." Marie finally concluded, standing up. "I'm checking."

Just as she was about to walk out of the kitchen though, she was stopped in her way by Four.
"You can stay here, Marie. Don't worry. You've had a tough day for sure, let me handle this!"
Marie raised an eyebrow, but didn't go against Four's decision.
"Alright, you little bean, you can go and check yourself." And with that said, she walked back to her seat.

Four started running through the long hallway until she reached the main entrance. There was a second knock on it, which was audibly more decisive and louder. Leah grabbed the keys from a bowl on a little table close by and unlocked the door. However, what, or better, who was in front of her, left her frozen.

Jessica stood up at the entrance, looking at the road behind her. As she heard the door opening, her head turned, finally making eye contact with Four.
The silence and the nervousness were palpable. Seeing that Four wasn't going to speak, Three took initiative.

"Hey." She began. Not the best start, but she really couldn't think of anything else to start with. Four was immediately taken off guard by how Three's voice seemed to be much less tense. She couldn't quite understand if it had always been an impression of hers only or not, but for some reason, her voice would always sound so...weird. But it sounded so much more natural and genuine at that moment.

That said, Four was still rightfully upset over the fight they had, and she didn't really feel like talking to her at all. Her words had deeply hurt her, and it wasn't something she could just brush off like nothing, even if there was...a change of some sort in her. 

"Stay here, I'm going to get Marie or...I don't know, someone to walk you in." She turned, to go and get someone else to deal with Jessica. But Three was quick to grab her by her sleeve, and upon the action, Four turned to give her a sour look, as if to tell her "let go of me".

"Leah, please." Jessica begged. 
"...Just- Let's not talk, ok?" She replied, a bit coldly.

Three sighed, letting go of her. Four felt like ignoring her for the rest of the night, but she just could not. She didn't even know why she was there in the first place, didn't she have her usual unnecessary night patrols to attend, or something like that?
"Four, no, come on. Let's talk, here, right now, I don't...really care. Let's just-"
"I don't feel like doing this now, Three...it really isn't the time." Four cut her off, biting her lips while trying to hold back a small sob. Three snapping at her, and her words, everything was burning in her mind, and she couldn't bring herself to even reason with her.