“Yes, sir.”  But I don’t like her.

That’s an interesting twist on the usual “like but don’t love”. How does this even work? The closest I can think of is kismesissitude, but I really don’t think “hatred with a touch of respect and sexual lust” is what’s going on here.

“Good, good.  Does she love you?”

Also a very good question. I touched on earlier the idea of Aster getting all of Kayden’s attention, and I do think that might be a touchy subject for Theo.

“No sir.  But she likes me.”

Yeah, that’s more commonplace.

“Ohhhh?” Jack drew out the sound, and it was vaguely mocking.  “Do tell.”

“I- I take care of Aster for her.  I do my chores, I don’t talk back.  I don’t make life harder for her,” Theo began.  He swallowed, “But my dad treated her badly, and I think she sees him when she looks at me, and she’ll never let herself love me because of that.”

Ouch.

She has to look past the doughy face to see Dad in me, past the baby fat I never seemed to lose, but I have his genes, I look like him, beneath it all.

And Kayden has had enough pain from loving one Max to let herself love someone like him again, even if it’s just by looks.

Jack walked up to Theo, until he was just behind the boy, his shadow cast long by the setting sun, stretching over Theo and the changing table.

Hello.

Theo could feel the tension ratcheting up.  “I’m going to get upset if you lie to me.”

Yeeeah, the diversion didn’t work.

Theo didn’t take his eyes off the baby, forced his fingers to keep working on the diaper.  “Kayden is Aster’s mother, sir, my dad’s ex-wife.  She’s been taking care of me since my father died.”

I wonder what happened to his mother.

“Of course, of course, now I understand.  I believe you,” Jack said, before chuckling.

…did it work after all? Or is he being sarcastic, like “of course, sure, that was totally what I meant”?

I don’t even know.

He turned and walked away, leaving Theo breathing out a shuddering sigh of relief.  When Jack spoke again, there was no humor in his tone.  “Do you love her?  The mother of that baby?”

Good question.

“How long until your mother gets back?”

That was something else.  That was the third time Jack had asked the question.

“Are we there yet?”

Was his captor’s patience running out?

Quite possibly.

Theo describes Jack as his captor. I wonder how accurate that is. It’s entirely possible that Theo is overestimating Jack’s hostility and Jack would be fine with Theo leaving if he could be sure it wasn’t to get help.

“She’s not my mother,” Theo changed the topic.  He dropped Aster’s dirty diaper into the bin.

Right. I thought not, but it’s good to have that clarified/repeated. It’s been a long time since we first met Theo, and I wouldn’t blame anyone who forgot all about him by the time they got to this chapter, even if they weren’t following serially or liveblogging.

I’m kinda surprised I remembered him so quickly, for that matter.

Theo’s hands shook as he adjusted his grip on Aster, hauling her up until her head was at his shoulder, even though that meant she was screaming in his ear.  He carried her to the changing table and set her down.

Or… is the changing table in the same room? There’s no mention here of leaving it, so it sounds like he didn’t.

Kayden had reclaimed her old apartment after the catastrophe, found many of her possessions still there.

Ah, yeah, I kind of figured it was the same place, although that not being the case was very plausible.

The man never let the front door out of his sight as he walked around the living room, and was soon behind Theo.  With the open window, Theo could hope the man was upwind of the aromatic diaper.

Seems it is indeed in the same room. I guess Jack just genuinely wanted Theo to change the diaper.

How long before the squealing of the baby, an offensive smell or something else set the psychopath off?

Who knows.

“My father told me I should address my betters as sir, sir.”

Well, at least Theo’s trying to keep the guy who could kill both him and Aster with a single swipe of his knife pleased.

Jack laughed with the slightest touch of derision.  “Well, your daddy taught you well, didn’t he?”

I like Jack so far. He seems like he could be quite entertaining.

True enough.  Theo wondered if this measure of respect played any part in why Jack had let him live this long.

Maybe, maybe not. He might be aware that Kayden wouldn’t be very susceptible to his offer if he were to kill Theo or, cod forbid, Aster.

“Yes, sir.  I’m going to go change the baby.”

“Yes.  Do.”

“Yes, I’m going to leave the room.”

I guess the picture Coil had wasn’t up to date as far as Jack’s hair length goes.

Theo looked at the thirty-something man.  He wore a dress shirt that was open to show his muscled chest and stomach, and had the sleeves rolled up to expose his forearms.

Yeeah, I feel like if this were Mannequin, these wouldn’t be the prioritized features.

His tight jeans were low slung, his limbs long, and his hair was longer and greasy.

…long and greasy hair?

It seems I may have been wrong about Jack Slash being either first or last.

Wait, no, looking back, Jack’s hair is described as short, not long and greasy. There is, however, a character whose hair is described as long and greasy and who would have reason to want to talk to Purity.

Hookwolf.

(That also explains the rolled-up sleeves. It’s necessary for the arm shapeshifting to not rip them.)

“Don’t drop her, now, or I’ll be very annoyed.”

Ahahaha!

After what this dude just did, this is easily the funniest line we’ve had in a while. 😛

Theo nodded, raising his voice to be heard over Aster’s shrieks, “Yes sir.”

Okay, so here’s my current read of the situation: This scary man, presumably one of the Slaughterhouse Nine, came in to talk to Purity, finding only Theo and Aster. Theo has been terrifiedly sitting there, trying not to antagonize the scary man in any way, while they wait for Kayden to come back. Now the man is basically asking Theo to leave the room and, secondarily, deal with something much more mundane like change diapers on a baby, and like hell is Theo going to argue against that.

“Must you keep calling me that?  Do I really look like a sir?”

…could it be Mannequin, perhaps?

While the only reasons I brought up Hatchet Face specifically were that I wanted to make an unfounded guess at which one it’d be if it were one of them and that Hatchet Face got some early favoritism out of me just for the name, I do think Hatchet Face and Mannequin are the two main suspects here. The man’s appearance is being called attention to (and will probably be described in the next paragraph), so it’s probably relevant.

“Nope.  Don’t see the appeal.  Hey, boy.”

Don’t see the appeal of what? Staring at the TV while it’s off?

Theo’s heart leaped in his chest.  He tore his eyes from the television and looked up at the man who was cradling Aster.

Wait, what?

…is this our Slaughterhouse member of the day? Hatchet Face, perhaps?

“The baby needs to be changed.”

I’m not sure it’s any of the Slaughterhouse Nine yet, or just a potential stepdad, or a subordinate of Purity’s (Fog, for instance), but I can’t help but imagine Hatchet Face saying that with a super gruff voice.

Theo nodded and stood.  He was reaching for Aster when the man threw the baby at him.

I suppose at this point “the man” would’ve been replaced if Theo knew well who he was.

He had to scramble to catch her, almost let her slip through his arms, and only just barely caught her by pressing her against his stomach and pelvis.  She started screaming. 

Pfft, I got distracted by the lack of clarification on who “the man” is in that sentence and didn’t realize exactly what he was doing.

This belongs in one of those “how to care for a baby” memes. 😛