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She was right that I didn’t need to. She also had two officers who followed her around whom she could turn to if she needed help. From the brief conversations I had with them, I knew they both had kids and could step in if needed.

“Did you break your own window?” Fai asked as he readied the journal for our review.

“It was… ummm…” I looked around at their curious, semi-interested faces, knowing I was about to expose my slightly manic choices from last weekend. “It was Goldie.”

All three of them stared at me with wide eyes and dropped jaws. Fai was the first to recover, asking, “I thought you just stopped by her place. Why was she at your house?”

“Lex, what did you do?” Oliver groaned, and Jackie just smirked at me.

“There is a chance that I moved her into my house for an undetermined amount of time,” I mumbled, staring at the wooden table. It was a rather beautiful table—the wood grain subtle—plus it was better to look at than the prying eyes around me.

My avoidance of looking at them meant I didn’t see the pencil flying toward my face that hit me square in the forehead. “Fuck, what was that for?” I rubbed the slightly tender spot on my head, trying to figure out who had thrown it.

“Is there a reason you didn’t tell us that part of your visit?” Oliver complained. “How did you even get her to move in with you? She hates you.”

“Hate is a strong word,” I interjected, but was cut off by Fai.

“Did you use her lack of memory against her?” He stood, his voice rising. “If you’re taking advantage—”

I raised my hands in surrender, interrupting him and not liking where the conversation was going. “No, God, no. She is well aware of her feelings toward me. I have explained them to her multiple times, actually.”

“Call her,” Fai demanded, relaxing slightly, but his face and tone were both stern. I didn’t blame him for his worry; he was just protecting his family. I was mildly offended he thought she needed to be protected from me.

My brow raised in confusion. “Why?”

“He wants to make sure she’s actually okay with being there,” Oliver mumbled and threw a glare at our boss. “I don’t appreciate the accusations, Fai. My brother would never—”

“Maybe, but she is at her most vulnerable right now,” Fai interrupted, and I was immediately sick of all of this.

I groaned and pulled my phone out of my pocket, knowing I could give them all peace of mind. “She’s just going to yell at me for calling her again,” I mumbled, unlocking the phone.

That shut everyone up as they watched me dial my home phone. I even put the phone on speaker for their satisfaction so they could hear her words themselves. After three rings, as suspected, Goldie’s annoyed tone sounded through the speaker.

“God, Lex. I haven’t set your house or kid on fire. Both are very much intact,” she complained, and a giggle sounded softly in the background.

I chuckled. “I appreciate you not lighting River on fire. I don’t think he would appreciate that, and I rather like him uncharred.”

“Is that Daddy?” I heard River call through the speaker, and then his little steps as he ran to the phone, his voice now louder: “Daddy! Goldie and I built a fort, and she read me stories, and then we ordered food because Goldie said you organized your kitchen like a caveman and she couldn’t find anything.”

Goldie’s laugh rang through the room. “O-kay, little man, let’s not disclose all my secrets. As you can see, Lexington, we are both perfectly fine.”

“I actually called you for a different reason.” I looked up at the surprised faces of those around me. “Would you mind confirming that I in fact did not kidnap you and bring you to my house? You came of your own volition?”

“I don’t know if you should be making kidnapping jokes with me so soon,” Goldie mused, but finally confirmed my statement. “I pinky-swear I am here of my own volition. Whether babysitting a four-year-old was my choice is a different matter in its entirety, but I digress.”

“Thanks, Goldie. I’ll pick up food on my way home, and then I can show you around this caveman-esque kitchen of mine,” I mused lightheartedly, though I had heard she was an awful cook. Maybe her lack of memories would help her in the kitchen.

“Whatever, bye.” She clicked off the phone as River laughed in the background of the call.

“Holy shit,” Jackie muttered with tears in her eyes. “She sounds… she sounds so much like herself.”

I nodded in agreement. “She’s still in there. It’s obvious. It’s just taking time for her to find her way back to us.”

Fai stood and rounded the table. I braced for… well, I didn't know what, but I assumed it wouldn’t be good. Instead, he pulled me up from my chair and wrapped his arms around me in a hug. It was brief, but I could feel his appreciation. He stepped away, running a hand through his hair. “Thank you, man. For being there for her when she needs it most, when she won’t let us in.”

“You don’t need to thank me,” I insisted as he went back to his chair and I sat back in mine. “I want to be there for her, help her in whatever way she’ll let me.”

“What we really need to do is find the asshole who took her,” Jackie grumbled. “Whatever he did to them down there… Silas is really fucked up, too. My heart breaks for him.”