true colors

"These my grandkids?" Bart looked the little ones over when they got to the house. Fish plastered an easy going smile on his face. This was him? Bella's father.

Well, he acted all cool, but he could see Kat wasn't that thrilled he was there. Bart had to tell him all things he'd done. He'd put a new filter in the furnace and put in new light bulbs. Fish wasn't sure why he needed to know, nor cared. After all, he was lugging in a kid on his hip and holding Gib's hand.

Thankfully, Jane climbed right up Bart and gave him a note. She'd drawn him a picture of a heart and it had I love hearts on it.

"Well, isn't this special." Bart smiled at Jane. "I don't get many Valentines." He looked back at Kat who gave him a sullen look.

Fish felt as if he'd walked in on something bad, perhaps. Maybe not.  The kids went off to do what they knew best. They had their little corner where the toy box was. He racked his fingers back through his head of curls. It was then, Bart gave him the third degree about being a teacher.

Then he had to listen another twenty minutes or so how Bart was back as a consultant on something. It sounded big. "I give talks on how people should treat others at work. You know, customer service shit."

Fish wanted to laugh. Seriously, he thought Bart would be a perfect bank robber or drug dealer by the way he looked. This was who had been missing from the picture all this time? He could see Bart thought a lot of himself. As it was, no one else was going too.

He ended up drinking several cups of coffee with Bart. He listened about Bart's adventures in St. Louis. "Hell, I even had to be Detroit for awhile. I'll never go back there." Bart shook his head. "That's a cold mother."

Fish bit the corner of his bottom lip. Where was Bella when he needed her? Thank God, Sophie started to fuss. He went to her.

"You want to hold her?" Fish then asked when he got back to the kitchen with her.

"This one yours?" Bart said ever so blunt.

"Yes, it is." Fish was pleased that Bart had asked. He guessed. "You? You want to hold her?"

"I wouldn't know what to do with one." He shook his head, no.

"Gotcha." Fish was ready to go, but Bella was off with her mother and he wondered if he'd ever get Jane back in the kitchen to talk to her grandfather who she'd wanted to meet so badly. Now she wasn't giving him the time of day. And neither was Bella.