"Mom?"
She turned around, about to scowl at Connor, and found him coming to her with his phone.
He covered it with his hand. "It's Andrea. She's worried about her dad. Can you talk to her?"
Next Brockner on the line. "Sure."
She took Connor's phone to her ear. "Andrea?"
As soon as the girl heard her voice, she started talking at such a quick pace that made Tanya sound like an exhausted turtle. "Oh, Reg! What can I do? All those horrible attacks! And everybody is so upset! I've heard people saying there can be attacks here in America, too? Mom won't let me stay the night at the hospital! And the doctor won't discharge Dad ahead of schedule! What do I do? I don't want'im to stay here alone! What if anything happens to him?"
Gillian didn't fight a warm smile at the girl's concern about her father. She was always so sweet and caring. Gillian was glad Connor thought of letting her talk to Andrea, to help her calm down. So she spoke in a confident tone. "Listen, Andrea. First of all, breathe deep and calm down. Then, promise you'll pay attention to what I'm gonna tell you."
"O-okay..."
Gillian wished the girl needed at least a minute to 'breathe deep and calm down', because she didn't have the slightest idea what she could say so the girl would stop worrying over Brock.
Well, you see, these murderous wackos won't attack us, 'cause they know that's a one-way ticket to obliteration before midnight. Hum, nope.
Look, Andrea, there's nothing you can do. Nobody would target a hospital. And even if they did, not like you can help it, right? Err, neither.
She glanced around, as if looking for ideas, and met Connor's worried look for a moment. She narrowed her eyes. A couple of months ago, when they went to DC, she'd harbored some serious questions about why Connor and Andrea seemed to do things to get together including their parents. Not exactly what teens like them would like to do. Okay, they weren't just any teen, but still.
"Reg...?"
"You don't need to worry, Andrea. Nothing's gonna happen here. We're all safe. Especially your father."
"You sure?"
Time to put her suspicion to the test. "D'you think I'd let'em keep'im there if I thought there was any kind of danger for him?"
Andrea took a moment to reply. But before that, Gillian clearly heard her sigh. Then she sounded truly relieved. "You're right. Of course you wouldn't. You'd be right here, making sure he's safe."
Shit! They knew? Damn kids! Was she really that obvious? "Exactly."
The girl let out a soft chuckle, still letting relief wash away her fear. "Okay... Yeah... Oh, Reg, thank you so much. I can't tell you how good it is, knowing you're always there for him."
The true intention of her words got straight to Gillian's heart. That girl was pure gold. "For you too, Andrea. Hope you know that."
"Yeah, I know. Okay, Connor told me you're working. Sorry, didn't mean to keep you."
"You didn't, girl. Don't worry."
"I'll text you after the doctor checks on him in a while."
"Okay. And call me again if you need anything. Deal? Especially after you take'im home tomorrow."
"You got it. Bye!"
When they disconnected, Gillian saw Tanya was still there, with Connor. "Hey, T, I got a challenge for you," she said, approaching them.
Tanya looked up at her with a little smirk. "Shoot."
"The Bureau set a line to report any aggression against Muslim people or institutions..."
"Yep."
"Can you access the record of the calls?"
Tanya arched her eyebrows. "I might. D'you wanna know if anything happens here? Don't think Cooper will tell us?"
"Yeah, she will. But I wasn't thinking Boston."
Now Tanya opened her mouth in a silent, "oh..." Gillian winked at her.
"I'm on it! D'you wanna know about any event in the Cleveland area?"
"I think we should focus on Akron. They wouldn't risk going to a big city."
Tanya was already typing. "There's a mosque in Akron."
"C'mon. Let's go home now, we can work from there. How about some Mexican? How long since your last burritos with your padawan?"
Connor turned to Tanya and proved his special smile didn't only work on Gillian to get an instant yes to any request. A moment later the three of them left the office.