Brock cancelled the interviews he had scheduled for the day. He was in no shape to pay attention to the gibberish he would have to hear. Not when Andrea wouldn't even take his calls.
She had texted him when she'd gotten to her mother's house, to let him know she was fine. And then she had rejected his calls one after another. On Sunday he ended up calling his first wife, to see why Andrea wouldn't pick up her phone.
Andrea's mother had been dry and plain. "She doesn't wanna talk to you, Brock, so let'er be, at least for a couple of days. If you expect her to respect your choices, you should set the example and respect hers."
It had been his worst Sunday in years. But it had eventually come to an end. On Monday he decided he'd go to see Andrea at school that noon, and the morning seemed to stretch out on purpose, wearing his nerves out.
Especially when Cassidy showed up with a bright grin, happy and energetic after his weekend off with the punks, and summoned him to go together to meet with the Director. Brock sat down by Cassidy and let him do all the talking, while the Director nodded and asked the usual questions. He was lucky they didn't ask him anything, because his mind was a gross blank of depressive nothingness. When they were as kind as to be done, the Director walked them all the way to the elevators. Brock was able to register the man's hand reaching out to his and shook it.
"It's a pleasure to have you back on board, Agent Brockner. It took you a while to come around, but you're already proving yourself worthier than ever."
Brock only nodded, vaguely wondering what the hell was the Director talking about with that 'took you a while'. But right then he didn't care.
On the elevator, he hardly heard anything of what Cassidy told him about the procedures, and the thrill of getting a little field action after years of politics and desks. Brock thought he even said something like the brass was grateful to him for bringing such excellent assets to the Bureau. He felt tempted to ask Cassidy if he'd gotten a concussion during the procedures. Whatever. He didn't care about that, either.
Finally time decided to pass by, and it was noon. Brock picked up his things and left his office, a black cold hole in his belly.
He found Andrea having lunch with her classmates as usual. The girl spotted him and her eyes widened in surprise. To Brock's huge relief, she dropped everything and hurried to him.
"Dad! What are you doing here?" she asked. "What happened?"
He shook his head. "No, nothing. But this is the only place I was sure I'd find you."
Andrea's lips curled in a little smile, holding his eyes. She realized how upset he was, and that he was actually restraining himself to not hug her. And seeing him like that melted away any hard feeling that her chat with Connor hadn't already smoothed out.
"Wanna pick me up at five? We can go for a shake."
Brock felt like a mountain was lifted from his shoulders, and that he was able to really breathe for the first time in days.
"Of course. I'll be here at five."
The bell rang and Andrea arched her eyebrows. "Gotta go now, Dad."
"Sure."
He didn't move, unable to look away from her. Andrea smiled wider.
"See you at five, then."
"Yes, at five."
She scoffed, came one step closer and kissed his cheek.
"Love you, Dad."
"Love you too, child," he muttered.
He watched her hurry away and let out a shaky sigh. Andrea glanced over her shoulder before walking into the building, saw him still standing there and waved at him with her usual smile. Brock smiled back.
.
.
Keep reading on the next episode: BLACKBIRD 14 - the flow