𝙍𝙀𝙈𝙀𝘿𝙔- [MAJOR EDITING]

TWENTY ONE

CADENCE
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"And how did this 'Cho' take it all?" Savannah asked Sadie, as they caught up over a coffee- a strategically placed date.

Their therapist had suggested they place it in a half hour slot and never exceed that time, even if they felt completely comfortable staying longer. It was rocky territory, so Sadie and Savannah decided they would meet before she had to leave for training that evening, a way to make sure they stuck to the rules.

They had also agreed that safe topics of talk were school, work, life in London- or Cambridge now, Sadie supposed- life in New York, relationships, friendships, music, and the like. Unsafe topics were anything to do with the accident, their father, or their estrangement.

Simultaneously, Sadie was conveniently given the responsibility of watching Jacob Valentina whilst his parents worked late, and his sister slept over at a friend's. She only realised today what a great icebreaker children were, as Jacob had taken to carrying a pocket set of Lego with him everywhere, and the pieces covered the entire table, and he'd brought enough for the three of them to share. Sadie was building a house.

"Cho took it exactly how would I would take it if one of my colleagues decided to completely ignore my instructions," Sadie sighed.

"Okay, but you are trying to save lives with all of this medicine," Savannah said, her quick witted lawyer's brain immediately offering a defense. "So what does it matter what your boss-slash-not-boss has to say? Your other boss-not-boss seems to be one hundred percent on board. And I think Tony Stark trumps Helen Cho-"

"Hey!"

"Yeah, I know, she's a well renowned geneticist," Savannah chuckled. "But she's giving my sister a hard time, whereas Stark is a rock star who is, like I said, on board."

"A little too on board," Sadie laughed. "I feel like I've kinda gotten over the hype of it all, now I'm just barely trying to keep my head over the water. But Tony... it seems he has unlimited energy."

"Well, he is an engineer," Savannah said, and Sadie barked out a laugh.

"You should be proud of that one," she said, trying to make a window out of clear Lego blocks.

"You ever thought of slowing down?" Savannah asked, suddenly, her eyes full of concern. "I haven't seen you stop since I arrived. You're working what, seventy, eighty hours a week?"

"Sixty," Sadie corrected, fully aware that that was no better.

"Except that would be the case if you weren't also caring for Mom with me," she answered, mixing her latte. "And training. And if you hadn't also taken on your project to make Captain America cultured, which is both extremely sweet, and equally ironic by the way. Overall, I'd say eighty hours is about right."

Sadie didn't know what to say to that, so she turned to the five year old sat beside them. "Wow, Jake this looks amazing! You could be an architect when you're older."

"It's Avengers Tower, but I'm not finished yet," Jacob answered, his voice its usual quiet tone. He turned back to the building blocks. "Aunt Sadie, don't ignore Aunt Sav."

"Oh, I get it, an artist can't be distracted from his work," Sadie laughed, ruffling his hair.

Savannah still stared at her in concern, the law student holding steady on saying nothing. Sadie knew it was a tactic, one doctors used, too. Stay silent and the patient, or client, will give you more information to fill the silence, and then you have more evidence to work with. That didn't stop Sadie from falling for it, and spilling her guts.