Page 77 of Second Chance

She also had a gun, which helped. Tony’s not sure he’d have been as intimidated by a knife, especially given Lily might not have another one after taping the murder weapon to their door. Still, he’s not about to underestimate anyone.

“I think we should check,” he reaffirms.

Emilio shrugs. “Do you know his password?”

It’s probably Worf’s fucking birthday.

“I can give it a shot.” His hair is in his face again. Tony sighs. “Hey, could you two get up for a second?”

Baffled, they do it.

Tony lifts the couch, forcing Worf to trundle out from underneath and into the safety of the little cubbyhole halfway up his cat tree.

“Dude,” Tony tells him. “Give me my hair tie.”

Yellow eyes blink at him from the dark cubbyhole.

“Come on. I’ll give you a treat.”

Worf inches forward. The hair tie is still in his mouth. He must have stolen it right from off the nightstand.

“C’mon,” Tony cajoles.

Worf inches forward again, and Tony grabs his hair tie, the cat’s jaw no match for opposable thumbs.

“Gotcha,” Tony crows and puts his hair up.

Colette and Emilio stare at him again.

Tony shrugs. “He does this. If I had an explanation, I would give it, trust me. Let me give Daniel’s email a try.”

Emilio hands over his laptop with Daniel’s standard-issue university email username in the top field. The cursor blinks away in the password box, and Tony gives it his best shot.

It’s not Worf’s birthday.

It’s also not ‘worf0720’ or any variation thereof Tony can think of.

“Fuck,” Tony eventually sighs in resignation.

“I can try forcing it,” Emilio says around a yawn. “If you’re sure…”

“Yeah, I’m sure. But only after you’ve gotten some rest.”

“Can’t sleep.”

Tony looks him over. “Try. Bedroom’s next door. Sheets are reasonably clean.”

Emilio looks set to protest. But he came over here in Tony’s car. He’s got no way home and nothing waiting for him there but household chores and grief.

“Come on,” Tony cajoles, trying not to talk to him the way he talks to the cat. “You’ll feel better.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Emilio grimaces as soon as it’s out of his mouth. Out of the corner of his eye, Tony sees Colette’s eyebrow raise.

“How about this,” Tony offers. “Lie down for half an hour, and if you can’t sleep, I’ll forget about it.”

Emilio’s out like a light within five minutes, doesn’t so much as twitch when Gianna rings the security doorbell at the building entrance.

Tony buzzes her in, dread settling in his stomach along with the anxiety. “You don’t have to stay for the invasion of my entire family,” he tells Colette. “If you want some space…”

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