Little One (James and Willow)

James and Willow had unleashed the zombie apocalypse onto small-town America and it was still simmering along quite nicely. Chuckling away to himself, he entered the little armoured and secure area he had assigned to be her sleeping and living quarters.

It had it's own computer suite like the outbreak room, kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedroom.

All she would ever need to be able to live here indefinitely and considering her importance, the instability of the world now and the isolated nature of their base... well it would be better off for everyone involved if she just stayed here.

And it wasn't like she had anything to worry about here.

Except, of course, maybe a bit of loneliness. But he was here for that and... and so was the child sat at the breakfast bar section of the kitchen.

James stopped completely and the little girl just looked at him in confused shock. They stared at each other silently before James spoke, trying to get Willow even as he never took his eyes off of the child in the kitchen,

"Willow..." he called out slowly, "Willow there's a child in the kitchen..."

Willow was bopping away in the kitchen while she made some form of dinner for her and Pippa, honestly she thought that the child was having more fun than she was here, she was making friends with Zartan, who although she thought originally would be a bad influence on the little girl was honestly rather sweet to her and it was nice.

Nice to see that he wasn't a complete weirdo like she had thought when she had first met him, in fact, he seemed to be rather nice to her now that he had been informed a little bit more about her background.

Flipping the sausages over in the pan, humming happily as she did so, Willow heard someone come into the room she shared with Pippa and frowned softly, at least they could have knocked first, which made her think it was Zartan. He sometimes did join them for something to eat if he wanted to spend some time with Pippa.

Approaching the breakfast bar, Willow smiled softly at her baby girl before grinning at James;

"Of course there is a child in the kitchen." she grinned "James, this is my baby girl Pippa, Pippa this is my boss, Mr. McCullen. Say hello baby." Willow stated with a soft smile, ruffling her hair as she walked past into the kitchen.

"We're just about to have some sausage sandwiches, if you want to have some with us James." she called through into the sitting area.

James blinked at the exact same time as the child blinked, not wanting to take his eyes off of her in case she suddenly turned out to be a pissed off Joe or something. Weirder things had happened in this mixed up world of theirs. But when Willow came out of the kitchen completely fine and dandy with the whole thing his eyes widened slightly.

So she knew there was a child.

Oh...

Oh so the child was Willow's child and that was how she knew that there was a child in the kitchen and even knew her name. He blinked a few times,

"Erm... hello there Pippa..." he greeted the little girl with a small wave before turning to Willow and nodding a little bit, "I think I'd love to have some sausage sandwhich as you, you know, explain some things."

He was burning to ask the questions right now but even he knew that they child wouldn't take too well to that. Sighing a little bit, he sat down on the sofa and looked at the child. She was very cute it had to be said,

"So how long have you been living here with mommy Pippa?"

Willow knew that James would likely not be very happy that her darling daughter was living with her but there was very little that he could complain about really. It wasn't like she was going to hinder any of the operations that they were doing in the base, she often stayed in this room or was looked after by the master of disguise himself so there was very little need for him to know she was even here.

Returning from the kitchen with a sausage sandwich for Pippa, on her little plastic pink plate, crusts off and with red sauce on the toast.

"Here you go baby, eat up now." she stated with a small smile "Do you want brown or red sauce, or none at all?"

As she brought out the rest of the sausages, and some more slices of bread and toast so that the grown ups could construct their own sandwiches. Hopefully James wouldn't pry too much in front of Pippa, but it seemed he wasn't really one for children.

"She's a little shy, aren't you?" Willow smiled gently and Pippa nodded, cuddling her little Elephant comforter to herself as she looked up at James, she was still unsure but took bites of her sandwich as she continued to look at him "She's only been here a few weeks, I moved her in here when I was finished setting up the codes I needed."

Making her own sandwich with 2 sausages cut in half on it, with red sauce, Willow folded the bread over and took a bite. Humming happily she tucked in with gusto to the sandwich.

James was still struggling a little bit with the whole idea that there was a child here in the base. Mainly because he had heard nothing about her being here until he had seen her with his own two eyes and that was either a massive security breach or... others had seen her first and decided to keep her here and not give him chance to protest.

Even though he wouldn't have protested anyway.

"Well I suppose brown sauce would go best if you're offering." he accepted graciously before humming a little bit, "I must say I'm surprised you managed to get young Pippa in here without me hearing about it."

Making his own sausage sandwich out of the sausages and bread given to him, he decided to be nice about this little interrogation since it was in front of the small child. Listening to Willow explain it all he couldn't help but smile a little bit at Pippa,

"Don't worry Pippa, the best people tend to be shy at one point of another." he told her with a wink, "Did you know that I was shy when I was your age? I'll have lots of time to tell you about it don't worry."

Beginning to tuck into the sausage sandwich he couldn't resist asking,

"So who's been helping you keep this little cutie a secret?"

Willow could see that James was surprised and honestly it was a rather refreshing expression on his features he was hardly ever surprised it seemed and now that he was, it was a rather sweet impression on his features. It definitely was something she wanted to see more often but, she doubted that would happen so she decided to just thoroughly catalogue the moment.

"Ah well that is because Pippa is ninja quiet, when she has Humphrey with her that is." Willow grinned, and Pippa grinned too, nodding her head as she had a big dollop of ketchup on her cheek from eating her sandwich.

It was nice the way that he was trying to reassure Pippa and she seemed like she was going to actually talk for a minute there before she heard that James, the big man, was asking about who was keeping her a secret.

Did that mean Disguise Man was going to get in trouble? Looking up at Willow with wide eyes, Pippa felt calmed when her mother squeezed her hand.

"Zartan has been looking after her when you needed me to do something, Pippa loves him don't you baby?" she grinned.

"Yes." Pippa stated factually "I like Disguise Man. He shouldn't be in trouble, it's my fault for being too ninja, so if anyone should be in trouble its me!"

"Hey hey hey, I don't think that James is saying that anyone's in trouble sweetheart, he's just asking a few questions okay? No need to get upset. Make sure to keep calm while you're eating okay." Willow soothed.

James had to admit that for him to now punish Willow would be to make himself in the biggest asshole that he had ever even heard of. And he had killed off hundreds of people so you knew it was bad if it would make even him feel like an asshole. He chuckled a little bit at Willow's reasoning as to why Pippa hadn't been reported to him just yet,

"Oh I can definitely see her ninja talents..." he agreed with a small smirk, "Don't worry, we'll see about giving Long Shadow some time off so that you can be out regular ninja alright Pippa and Humphrey?"

She seemed to be upset for some reason and he wasn't sure why until Willow explained that Zartan had been spending time with the young girl. He raised an eyebrow at that? That was... annoying. Zartan was supposed to be preparing non-stop for an urgent mission. None of this playing around! Sighing a little bit, he smirked slightly and ruffled Pippa's hair,

"Well don't you worry, Disguise Man isn't in any trouble at all." he assured her with a happy little grin before winking at her, "But maybe stop being quite so amazing as being a ninja... after all, I would like to see you during the day time too!"

He grinned at her before shaking his head a little bit,

"No, nobody is in trouble Pippa so don't worry." he assured her with a grin, "Everything's fine... Just surprised me is all! Bet you're the best at hide and seek!"

Willow giggled a little bit when James seemed to be getting on so well with Pippa, it meant a lot that he wasn't too mad at her because she was going to be keeping her baby with her especially because right now there was a whole load of zombies running through the states right next to their own. No way was she going to let her stay at home while she got to stay in here sitting pretty.

"Long Shadow scares me." Pippa admitted as she wiggled the ears of Humphrey, having finished her sandwich "I bet I could kick his butt though!" she giggled.

"I bet you could Pip, I bet you could!" Willow agreed with a grin "Please go and put your plate in the sink, take your medicine then go have your nap."

"Awwww but momma!" she protested with a large pout

"None of that, I let you off yesterday young lady, medicine and nap like the Doctor ordered." Willow smiled kindly "You need me to tuck you in?"

"Moooom no! I can do it myself I'm not three!" Pippa stamped her foot and placed her plate in the sink before skipping off into the direction of the bedroom, so that she could take her medicine and then have the nap that she really did need, just didn't want to admit she needed in front of someone she was trying to impress.

Sighing, she stood up and collected her plate too; "Do you want to ask anything else?" she asked with a small smile.

James had to admit that having a kid underfoot wasn't as annoying as he first thought that it would be but that wasn't saying too much since he'd originally thought that having a kid around would basically destroy his organisation within hours. So far all she had managed to do was make him smile and even to an evil business tycoon like him that wasn't such a bad thing. Of course his soldiers wouldn't be able to see him smile but others could,

"Yes well Long Shadow scares us all." he teased her with a slight wink before chuckling and nodding in agreement, "I bet you could kick his bottom from here to Fife little one! I have no doubt who the better ninja is."

He chuckled a little bit as he watched the interaction between the mother and the daughter. And he had to admit that Willow made one hell of a mother. Smirking ever so slightly as he watched her being all motherly, James couldn't help but smirk,

"Oh come on momma..." he teased her with a wink, "Can't you see Pippa is a big girl now? She can totally tuck herself in! And if not then Humphrey can help her with it I'm sure."

He winked at Pippa with a grin before she left the room to go and take her medicine. As soon as the girl was gone his smile faded and he finished the rest of his sandwich before speaking to Willow in a rather subdued tone,

"So... Pippa has taken up residence here I can see. And I have no problems with that." he told her honestly before frowning, "Where is the father? Is he going to suddenly turn up at my base too? I'd take that poorly since he's unlikely to ever be cuter than Pippa."

Willow smiled softly at James, she didn't think that he would be the sort of fatherly type but here he was being all sweet towards Pippa, maybe if things had been different he would be able to have some children of his own. Maybe he still would be able to, if this plan went well. After all he would be the most powerful man in the world with the cure to this disease under his belt, and all the money from selling it.

Pippa no doubt was going to be falling in love with James, but, then again she seemed pretty enamoured with Zartan so perhaps there would be some turmoil in the young girls mind. Perhaps she would be nice enough to leave James to her mummy.

"Thanks, I just didn't want her out there in all that, and she's no trouble." she reinforced with a slight smile, rubbing her hand against her arm as she looked shyly into James' eyes, she had hoped she wouldn't be in trouble for doing this, and it seemed as if James was anything but upset that she had brought little Pip here.

At the mention of her father, Willow scowled a little bit and shook her head;

"Pip's father left us years ago...he moved to New York." she stated with a small smile "We had some difficult times without two incomes but, we managed. So don't worry, no strange men will be coming onto the scene, just me and Pip."

James hoped that if Pippa was here to stay that she would enjoy being around him because he honestly enjoyed being around her. She was a lot of fun, in the same way that his younger cousins had been way back before he became the head of the family business in Arms dealing. Back then he had actually been able to see his family and it was something that he desperately missed that was for damn sure.

When she mentioned not wanting her out in the world now with their disease running rampant, James actually winced slightly. Somehow it hurt his bruised conscience a little bit more when he realised that he might have hurt Pippa,

"Well don't worry, even if she were trouble we'd keep her here anyway." he assured her with a small smile before shaking his head a little bit with a sly smile, "So you can stop being so worried about punishment from me."

So she didn't much like the father. That was refreshing to know and good to know that no one would suddenly be bursting onto the scene.

"Well then he won't be coming back into your life. The deadbeat will be staying in New York I bet." he admitted before smiling a little bit wider, "Well good! I tend to get enough of that when Zultan tried to discover new faces and facial patterns. Now... what kind of facilities do we need to cater to Pippa's needs?"

Willow saw James wince and she frowned a little bit, was it something she had said? Did she strike a nerve there and he was actually feeling guilty about what he had done to potentially put her cute little girl in danger? It was strange that when people got to know someone they immediately put more value to them than people who were just nameless faces in a crowd, like the town in America they had let the weapon into.

There could have been dozens of little Pips in that town and he had given the order to have them all killed and altered beyond humanity.

"Alright I'll stop being so worried, it was kind of fun though, to be so rebellious. I thought there was nothing in this base that you didn't know about." Willow teased with a little grin on her lips "Would you like a drink, I think I have some wine here."

It was kind of sweet when James smiled, it was like he was happy that Willow was no longer attached to her former partner. Perhaps he was getting slightly interested in her, like she was getting slightly interested in him. The more time she spent with James, the more connected she felt they were becoming.

"Pippa and I don't need much, we could do with another bed for her, she's been sharing mine, but besides that we're coping just fine." she stated with a small smile "We just need to be able to leave the base occasionally, every few weeks or so."

James frowned a little bit at himself. He had pushed himself beyond the ability to feel bad about his actions a heck of a long time ago and yet now it was as if he was an innocent young man making his first kill again. He shook his head. He wasn't a young man anymore and he wasn't new to this whole thing.

He would have cared about the situation if it had hurt Pippa.

But it hadn't hurt her so he honestly didn't care all that much. They had all been little dots and little numbers to him. Dots on a screen and numbers in a table or graph. He smirked a little bit at her thoughts about it being a little rebellious,

"Yes well those few things I don't know about I make it my business to figure out as fast as possible." he told her with a wink before nodding happily in acceptance, "Yes please, wine would be a lovely little treat."

He was glad that her former partner was out of the picture. Perhaps more than out of the picture since New York was experiencing a minor outbreak at the moment too. Smirking a little bit, he couldn't help but lick his lips,

"Well it just won't do for an adult to be sharing her bed with a child so don't you worry, I'll have you moved somewhere with a much bigger and more family orientated experience don't you worry." he assured her with a small smile before humming a little bit, "And what would you like to leave the base for?"

Willow had to admit that he had a rather sexy little smirk going on there and she hoped that she was going to get to see some more of it. The accent that once she had found a little bit comical was actually now rather soothing to hear, it didn't make much sense to her, but the melodic tones of his Scottish accent made Willow relax slightly when she heard it.

The idea of wine, made her smile broadly, she needed some wine for the conversation that she had ahead of her she thought.

"Alright then I'll get us some, it's not the best vintage but I hope you'll appreciate it for its mere alcoholic content alone." she grinned, unscrewing the cap and pouring the cold liquid into two wine glasses which were, rather on the large side and looked like they held two smaller glasses in just one cup "Here you go, I bet you need it after your day, you always seem to have hard days." she commented with a smile.

When James mentioned it wouldn't do for Pip to share a bed with her, Willow quirked an eyebrow and smiled slyly; "Oh and why wont it do for her to share a bed with me? I have no problems with it and honestly I think this place creeps Pip out a bit so she doesn't mind either." Willow grinned.

Now this was the crux, should she tell James the truth? Part of the truth? Or just lie her ass off? He had been good to her, and good to Pippa by letting her stay so, lying was not an option.

"Pippa requires frequent treatment for medical issues so, we need to take her up every four weeks or so, so that she can receive the treatment." she stated with a soft smile, sitting down next to James on the sofa, and taking a large gulp of wine.

James was beginning to feel a lot more comfortable with Willow than he had felt with anyone in a long time. It was very nice to be able to say that he had someone who he felt that he could trust again since that had been something he'd been missing for quite some time now. Even Baroness had been someone he would only allow himself to relax only so much around.

But with Willow there seemed to be no ceiling on how much he'd relax around her.

When she smiled broadly at the idea of the wine he too had to smile at it. He hadn't had anything alcoholic in a while and wine had always been a favourite drink of his to be fair,

"Well I don't really care too much about the vintage... though my wine collection might seem to be at odds with that idea." he told her with a chuckle before smirking slightly, "Oh all my days are hard Willow but today actually seemed a tad easier. For some reason I ended up talking to Baroness and she tried to be all sexual... and I just flat out told her that she wasn't the sexiest woman here like she thought and that I wouldn't touch her with a ten foot barge pole. Needless to say she's not pleased with me."

He chuckled a little bit and gave her a little wink,

"Well adult beds are made for adults and adult things." he teased her slightly, "So it'd be much better if she had her own little bed."

When she told him that Pippa needed medical treatment for existing issues almost weekly he hummed a little bit,

"What's wrong with the Pipster?" he asked her quietly, "And why do you not trust that our medical facility could be up to the task?"

Willow grinned when she heard that James didn't really care much about the vintage because honestly this had been cheap in one of the supermarkets she had gone to to get the food that she and Pippa had been eating recently. Of course she liked the food in the base but she needed a few little home comforts they didn't have here, so she had gone out to buy some treats for herself and little Pip.

Raising an eyebrow Willow couldn't help but be a little shocked at what James was telling her, it wasn't any of her business what he was doing with the Baroness.

"Well I bet it was a shock to the ego for her." she snorted with a little laugh "She goes around wearing all that tight stuff, only other girl around here is me so, I bet she's stung to be beaten by a mom with stretch marks who wears comfortable jeans and hoodies." Willow grinned cheekily "Didn't know that was your taste James."

Laughing Willow shook her head; "I guess you're right, wouldn't want Pip to be scarred by hearing things that she shouldn't, if those things of course are going to be happening which they might not." she pointed out, taking another gulp of her wine, enjoying the alcoholic burn.

With a small sigh, Willow hugged her knees up to her chest as she sat down on the sofa, she hadn't had many people to talk to about Pippa's Leukaemia and to be honest she wished she had talked with more people about it. It was so stressful for her.

"Pippa has Leukaemia, she's getting some new treatment for it in a hospital in Washington, I'm sorry but I don't trust that Doctor here. He sets me on edge I won't have him working on my baby girl." she stated firmly.

James was happy that she was enjoying herself here with Pippa now safe and provided for but at the same time he knew that she would be wanting to visit the top side every now and then. And that was fine while they were here, under the streets of LA. But should they ever have to move it might well become a bit of a problem for the two of them. Hopefully it would never come to that though as they would be able to control the disease.

Smirking a little bit, James licked his lips before nodding in agreement,

"Yeah the Baroness for all her leather and latex is actually going to be challenged by a woman who is most certainly the textbook definition of a certain abbreviation." he told her with a little wink before laughing slightly, "And you thought that leather and massively tight fitting uniforms on women without real curves was my type? Because that's how I see Baroness... not got all that much to flaunt to be honest."

He smirked a little bit,

"Well just in case such noises were to occur it would be best if she were free in her own bed." he agreed with a little smirk, "Just in case you know?"

This required a little bit more drinking.

Sometimes he wondered why other people thought that there was some kind of God up above the clouds to help us in our times of need. Shaking his head a little bit, he sighed slightly,

"A shame that such a beautiful kid was hit with it..." he agreed with a small sigh before frowning slightly, "What about the other medical facilities we have? You're far from the only one who dislikes the good Doctor."

Willow enjoyed the little digs that they were getting in at the Baroness here because honestly it had seemed that she was the type of James when Willow had first come here, well, they seemed to be quite close when she had first arrived and as such she had kind of just assumed that they were both going to be romantically involved. You couldn't be close to someone without having feelings there most of the time.

Even if you didn't act on them.

"Well thanks." she stated with a small blush "Guess it's been a while, what with all of the problems with Pippa and my extra work on the side I just never really thought about...things like that. I guess its all natural then." Willow laughed softly, taking a larger sip of her wine to still her nerves a little bit, it had been a while since she had flirted with a guy let alone slept with one.

Nodding her head Willow grinned; "Oh of course, I appreciate you looking after Pippa's best interests. I think she'll enjoy her own room, she loves the whole Disney princess thing, even though she wont say so in front of you and Zartan because she thinks you'll think she's uncool." she smiled softly.

With a large bright smile Willow turned to James;

"She is a beautiful kid. I love her to bits. Honestly I never knew that you had other medical facilities, because you never told me that before, I mean, I'll have to ask Pip what she feels better with. She just got used to the other Hospital, its so scary for her you know? She might feel better getting out of the base sometimes, feeling some fresh air."

James could tell that Willow very much appreciated the attention but it was also rather clear that she didn't really have much of a clue what to do with the attention she was receiving. Almost like it was a bit overwhelming for her or something like that. Chuckling a little bit, he couldn't resist letting his eyes wander rather blatantly across her sex little body,

"Yeah I suppose that makes a lot of sense... no time for the bed to be squeaking and the voices becoming all husky what with all the problems." he agreed before smirking ever so slightly as he drank some more of his wine, "All natural and all beautiful I have to let you know Willow... you should know just how sexy you are when you're just being your usual, natural, self."

He smirked a little bit when she tried to suggest that it was because he wanted to give Pippa all the luxuries of having her own room,

"Oh yes she seems like the type." he agreed with a little wink before shaking his head a little bit, "She's too cool for anything to affect her coolness rating!"

Humming a little bit, James was rather annoyed that she would rather continue to use an outside source of health and security. After all, if something went wrong she would be down here and they would need to be able to help her with her ailment,

"Well we do have some high tech medical centres for those people who dislike The Doctor." he told her before nodding a little bit, "But I guess you and her both need to stretch you legs... I'll allow you to continuing making your trips if you would like. Along with a robotic pick-up vehicle don't you worry."

Willow couldn't help but let a shy quality take hold of her smile, she had been so busy worrying about where the money was going to come from next, then worrying about her baby, then worrying about if she was going to be found out about hacking to actually take stock of the situation and remember that she was actually a female and could actually be found attractive by someone.

It was nice that she could begin to explore that side with James again.

"Well thank you very much for informing me just how sexy you think I am being my natural self." she purred softly "I'll make sure not to change a thing, as long as you don't. That way we both keep on being terribly attractive individuals."

Grinning Willow laughed a little bit; "Coolness rating? Sounds like she has you wrapped around her little finger and you two have only just met. She has an uncanny knack of doing that." she admitted with a soft smile.

Willow was very glad that James wasn't going to be against her and Pippa going up topside to continue her trips to the Doctors, because to be honest she thought that Pippa was best getting out of here sometimes, even if it was for just an hour or so. She was young and needed to get out to play if nothing else.

"Don't worry about us James, we can handle ourselves but...thanks. It means a lot to me that I can still be somewhat independent, I've gotten far too used to it." Willow smiled gently "So, enough about me, why don't you tell me something about your life. Were you always a highly successful, powerful and attractive head of an arms company?"

James had to say that he knew that she had not been exploring her sexual side all too much in recent weeks and months. After all, she had been very busy with all of her hacking and being a full time mother so it was to be expected on some level to be damn sure. But the thing was, he hated that she thought of herself in as a non-sexual entity at times. It was clear to him that she had not been made to feel like a woman in some time and he intended to remedy that in as spectacular a display as he could manage.

He smirked a little bit at the thanks,

"Oh you keep on doing that and that'll be all the thanks that I'll ever need." he teased her with a wink before humming a little bit, "I'll do my best to stay the same as I am while at the same time trying to get even better."

He chuckled a little bit nervously, his cheeks now rather red from all the little flirting and the embarrassment he was suffering,

"Yes well... seems like I won't be the only one she will be able to ensnare." he teased her before smirking a little bit, "Okay so maybe she does have me wrapped around her little finger... not that bad right?"

Though he hated that they were wasting potential time with him to go to the doctor's outside of the base he realised that he understood. He understood that these little expeditions were going to be fraught with danger though,

"Well I'm just glad to help the two of you out." he told her with a small smirk before nodding a little bit with a smirk, "My entire family has been stuck in the family business so that knew everything about the guns of the era. Same here I think. So... yeah, I guess I've always been like this."