Family No Matter What

70

Hobbs is eating the last of his pancakes while Samantha works on her homework and Jayden cleans up after Dean.
"Lucas Rebecca Hobbs," A man says as he walks over to them, causing Hobbs to freeze mid bite while Jayden and Samantha look at the man confused. "I haven't seen you in forever."
"Rebecca?" Samantha asks as she looks at her father even more confused, causing Hobbs to shake his head in a don't ask manner.
"Do you even age? How long has it been?" The man questions as he reaches the booth while Jayden continues to look at him confused, since she now knew most of the people that Hobbs has worked with.
"Six months," Hobbs answers him with a sigh as he drops his fork.
"Time flies," The man says with a smile.
"When we're apart," Hobbs retorts with an eye roll.
"What is your skincare regimen? Because you look like a young Shirley Temple," The man randomly asks as he motions for Jayden, Dean, and Samantha to scoot over by Hobbs since they are in a rounded booth. "Go, go, go, go, go."
"Daddy, who is this guy?" Samantha asks confused as she sits beside her father.
"Well, this guy is, uh, is Locke. And he works for the CIA," Hobbs explains as he motions over to the man, known as Agent Victor Locke.
"Well, you must be wondering why I called me here," Locke says with a smug smile.
"Not really," Hobbs says with a shake of his head while Samantha says, "Doesn't make sense."
"Your dad and I are old friends," Locke explains as he looks over at Samantha while changing the subject.
"We're not old friends," Hobbs corrects while shaking his head again. Jayden continues to look between the two men confused.
"Actually, we're, um, we're best friends," Locke says with a nod as he pulls a necklace out from under his shirt. "Here's the half heart."
"I don't know what that is," Hobbs says as he glances over at his daughter and Jayden.
"We got some ink together," Locke says as he looks at Samantha as well.
"We did not get ink together," Hobbs argues as he tries to look everywhere but at Locke.
"Oh, we didn't?" Locke asks as he flips his tie over his shoulder.
"No, we did not," Hobbs answers as he shakes his head.
"Oh, interesting. Well, I seem to remember getting a little something like this..." Locke explains as he unbuttons his shirt to show the same tattoo as Hobbs'. "At one point on my body."
"Jesus," Hobbs says as he pulls his shirt down to look at his own tattoo while Jayden looks at Hobbs in shock.
"Christ, I miss our playful banter," Locke says with a smile.
"You have one minute to tell me what you want before I knock one of your lungs loose," Hobbs tells him with a glare, causing Jayden to cover Dean's ears as she looks at Hobbs with a stern look.
"You and I are after the same thing," Locke starts explaining while holding up a paper from a file. "Say hello to the CT17 virus. It's a programmable bio-weapon of biblical proportions. Affectionately codenamed the Snowflake."
"What does a Snowflake do?" Jayden asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, nothing much, just, uh liquifies your internal organs. Basically, it turns your body into a giant bag of hot soup," Locke answers her with a straight face, not even batting an eye at the fact that there is two kids present.
"She is nine!" Hobbs tells him with a glare before motioning to Dean. "And he's four."
"I've seen worse," Samantha says with a smile as she shrugs.
"Where?" Hobbs asks as he looks at her surprised.
"Game of Thrones, Janet's house," Samantha answers him as her smile grows.
"I've never heard of it," Hobbs says as he pretends to try to place the show, causing Jayden to roll her eyes since it is one of their favorite shows.
"A Lannister always pays his debts," Locke quotes from the show.
"You're never going over there again," Hobbs tells his daughter.
"He's kidding," Jayden whispers to Samantha, causing Samantha to smile at her.
"But there's a new wrinkle in the case, Rebecca," Locke says as he gets back on topic. "The specifics... are all in the brief. There you go." Locke goes to hand the file to Samantha but Hobbs quickly grabs it. "She's ready, Becca."
"She's nine," Hobbs repeats with a glare.
"This is the only unit of CT17 in existence. And this Snowflake is now in the hands of a rogue MI6 operative in London," Locke explains as Hobbs begins to go through the file before coming across the picture of the MI6 operative. Jayden raises her eyebrow because of how familiar the MI6 agent looks.
"Dad, are all spies that pretty?" Samantha asks as she takes notice of the picture as well.
"No, she is unusually attractive," Hobbs answers as he looks over at his daughter, earning a playful glare from Jayden.
"And deadly," Locke says as he stares at Hobbs before explaining. "Last night, she was part of an MI6 team tasked with securing the virus. She then proceeded to kill her entire black ops squad." Locke looks over at Samantha as he explains the next part while Jayden quickly covers Dean's ears so he won't hear. "She stabbed one guy in the chest using a brick. Do you know how hard that is? To stab someone using a brick?"
"Get to the point," Hobbs says since he doesn't like Locke telling his daughter these things.
"The point is there's no sharp edge. How did she get an entire brick into another person's chest? She either had to be really strong, or the other person had to have been, like, born without like, bones," Locke explains which causes Hobbs to roll his eyes.
"Get to the larger point," Hobbs demands as he slightly glares at Locke.
"She stole the Snowflake. She went totally off-grid," Locke finally explains the current situation.
"Who's this?" Hobbs asks as he pulls another photo out of the file.
"That's the scientist who we believe created the virus," Locke answers as he looks at the surveillance photo of the man.
"Great. Where do I find him?" Hobbs says as he puts the photo back into the file.
"He's off-grid, too. Impossible to find. Maybe dead," Locke answers with a slight shrug.
"You're very helpful, Locke," Hobbs says sarcastically with a frown.
"And you're the world's best tracker. I'm sure you'll figure something out," Locke says as he leans towards Hobbs. "Especially if the beautiful, O'Conner, is helping you."
"Oh, no, no, no, no. I'm DSS, you're CIA. I don't work for you," Hobbs quickly says as he shakes his head. "And she's retired." Jayden frowns as Hobbs speaks for her.
"Your boss loaned you out. You do now, dickface," Locke says with a smirk.
"What did you call me?" Hobbs asks as he slightly slams his hands onto the table, causing Locke to shrink back in his seat while Dean jumps in Jayden's arms as Jayden looks at Hobbs in shock.
"Hey, hey, hey! Let's just settle down. All right?" Locke says as he tries to get over the scare. "I've already got a black site running in London. There's an operative there. Top of his game. He'll be your contact."
"I don't need anybody else. I work alone," Hobbs says as he shakes his head, causing Jayden to frown since she had at least hoped that he would let her help.
"We got bigger problems than your fragile ego. Or the fact that a moment ago, I most definitely shit my pants," Locke says as he lets his panic leave his body while Jayden looks at him in disgust. "The entire world is at stake here, all right? This thing gets out, we're looking at a lot of liquified organs. And I mean, like, everywhere. And not just yours and mine." Locke points at Samantha while trying to use his other hand to hide the fingering that is pointing.
"Uh, he knows I can see him, right?" Samantha asks as she looks at her father confused.
"He knows nothing, Jon Snow," Hobbs says as he leans back while quoting from Game of Thrones, causing Samantha to lightly laugh as Hobbs winks at her.
"So, what's it gonna be, Becky? You gonna partner up?" Locke questions as Hobbs looks back over at him.
"I'm in," Hobbs answers him with a nod, causing Jayden to sigh since he didn't even discuss it with her. It seems that ever since Hobbs went back to work a year ago, they have been drifting apart.
"Course you are," Locke says with a smirk.
"Do you remember what I told you in Rwanda?" Hobbs asks as he slightly glares at Locke.
"It still burns?" Locke asks as he tries to remember.
"No. The other thing," Hobbs says as he shakes his head.
"Stop watching me sleep," Locke says as he raises his eyebrows in excitement because he thinks he got it.
"I said "We are not friends at all"," Hobbs repeats what he had said in Rwanda.
"Best friends," Locke corrects him in a whisper.
"And to watch your..." Hobbs goes to continue.
"Wash your back," Locke says as he interrupts Hobbs. "Yeah. I remember."
"Watch your back," Hobbs corrects him.
"A lot of back. I gotcha," Locke says with a nod as a smile grows on his face. "Hey... Same old Hobbs. Huh?"
"Same old Locke," Hobbs says with a smile before they do a handshake. "All right, who's on the case?"